Help! Tinnitus, hyperacusis, and hearing getting worse. Should I be wearing earplugs all the time?

[Soundwaverer]

I'm a musician and teacher, and I've had tinnitus since 2007. Mine is high and low frequency. While I habituated over time to the high pitches, I have never got used to the low-rumble. The condition is now causing me significant worry, as it appears to be gradually getting worse over time, and now my hearing is also a concern.

A specialist recently explained that, while I perform well enough on a standard hearing test, there is such a thing as "hidden hearing loss"- and the frequencies I perceive as sounds are most likely frequencies that I've lost to some degree in my actual hearing.

Another issue is that I'm hyper-sensitive to certain sounds (hyperacusis), and can get startled or irritated by sounds others perceive as perfectly normal. Because certain frequencies are so dominant, I often struggle to follow conversations in noisy environments. I also struggle to hear my students when they ask questions and there is the slightest bit of noise in the classroom. However, when there is no other noise, I can easily hear even very quiet sounds.

I still go out socially, but it's getting more difficult. If there's any loud music I use earplugs with a filter, but it takes most of the enjoyment out of the music, so I sometimes go without. I don't know to what extent I'm just making it worse though. I also enjoy alcohol and occasionally marihuana, but I've heard these are ototoxic (harmful to hearing). Since they also make life more bearable, I don't know to what extent this is harmful in the long term, and if I should try to stop completely to avoid further deterioration.

Any advice greatly appreciated!

[Jimbob7]

Hi Soundwaverer,

Sounds like a case for hearing aids. I had hidden hearing loss as a result of age but also my cervical injury accident. The loss was so subtle I didn't percieve it/ didn't notice it over the T sounds (I have severe T) - until I got fitted with the HA - at which point I wept because suddenly the World sounded like it should again!!!

I say try them - they're free on the NHS and just plonk them in and listen to the sound of brushes on a high-hat - you'll know instantly if you hear what you've been missing.

Mine have Bluetooth - so if I'm going into noise - gig, blue-light, pub, etc - with a single swipe on my phone I can dive their volume to 0. You learn to 'ride the faders' depending on what environemt you're in.

The HA's also help my hyperacusis too- they "level" out all sounds and make them uniformly "normalised" to steal a bit of jargon from our industry.

Give them ago. The worst that can happen is you hand them back and they go to someone else. For me -- I would describe them as "transformative" in terms of my habituation and coping with this condition.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Jimbob

[tinnitustamed]

Hello there, sorry to hear this, I can certainly empathise with you, especially regarding sound sensitivity! Be careful not to think the problem has gone away after a couple of jars 🙂 I'm doing music as a hobby and my work is as a ghostwriter for audiology and tinnitus people. I recently built an email course over 5 days sharing my experience. If you think it would help, feel free to sign up: musicianstinnitusroadmap.co... Wishing you all the best. Tom

[Kellythecat-74]

I use Quies wax earplugs from the chemist if I’m anywhere noisy . Once pressed into the ear, I cant hear anything . However you can tweak them to let in some noise , that’s what I do.