The New Hyperacusis Cures

Hyperacusis has been a little known disorder.  It has been only scantily documented.  After all, it has to do with sound perception, usually not damage to the hearing apparatus itself.  How in the world does a researcher or doctor get in there and find out what his or her patient is feeling.  In the last 25 years or so, ways have been found to quantify hearing sensitivity.  The next step was to find a hyperacusis cure.

A doctor, Dr. Jastreboff, devised a treatment for the condition.  Although it is called Tinnitus Retraining Therapy, it is useful for victims of hyperacusis.  Besides, 86 percent of hyperacusis patients have tinnitus.  TRT uses sound generators which focus on the lower frequencies played at a low level.  A patient uses this device and it is adjusted until the person is used to the sound around him or her.  Counseling is used along with the device for behavior modification.  It is said to be the most important hyperacusis cure of our time.

AIT, auditory Integration Training, uses a similar device which plays music but eliminates certain frequencies in that music.  This device is thought also to affect a hyperacusis cure by habituating a person to sound.  Neuromonics Tinnitus Treatment is also used for hyperacusis.  This therapy relies on a similar device, but has 5 distinct steps to the process.  First, an audiologist performs a series of test in a personal assessment of the patient.  Second, the neuromonics device is custom-fitted.  This is a small device the size of a small cell phone which sends out a music signal.  Next, the patient wears the device a couple of hours a day during regular activities to relieve symptoms while wearing it.  Fourth, the level of the device is lowered and the patient is desensitized to the sound around them.  This lasts for 4 months at about two hours a day.  Finally, the patient is allowed to use the device on his or her own, just when needed for maintenance.  And so the hyperacusis is cured.

Some medications have been used as hyperacusis cures.  Antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs are used simply to make the patient feel better until hyperacusis can be cured.  On the other hand, there are medications that seem to actually help the disorder.  One of these is L-sbaclofen, a muscle relaxant.  This seems to cut down on excitement of the ascending auditory system.

TMJ sufferers who look for a hyperacusis cure may find it when they are fitted for orthopedic mandibular repositioning devices.  Some have even touted neurolinguistic training, or correcting head-forward posture.

Hyperacusis cures are many and varied.  Some don’t work very well. Some are expensive.  Some are time-consuming.  The one thing certain is that there are more ways to deal with hearing sensitivity yet to come.