Hyperacusis and Ear Ringing Often Go Together

Every sound you hear is drastically amplified, causing you great distress from the noise around you.  What do you do when, added to that, you begin to hear ear noises that are coming from inside your ear?  That is what happens when hyperacusis and ear ringing go together. 

Ear ringing, or tinnitus, can be a ringing, a buzzing, or a chirping.  It can sound like roaring, whistling, or static.  It is beyond annoying.  It is downright uncomfortable.  Some who have tinnitus have no trouble with hearing sensitivity, but most people with hyperacusis also have ear ringing in some form or other. 

Some hyperacusis sufferers develop ear ringing right away while others don’t experience tinnitus until months after the onset of hyperacusis.  For some it starts in both ears; for others it will start in one ear and migrate to the other.  Causes of tinnitus include, but are not limited to, exposure to loud noises, circulatory problems, damage to the inner ear, and even unfortunate side effects to drugs or drug withdrawal. 

The combination of hyperacusis and ear ringing can put strain on relationships with friends, family, and coworkers.  It can affect concentration and it can result in a depressed mood.  Either one is difficult to live with, but both together can be devastating.

A cure for people with tinnitus and hearing loss is to wear specialized hearing aids.  With hyperacusis and ear ringing, though, a hearing aid is inappropriate because the person usually actually has normal physical hearing function, but the sound is already too loud due to improper processing in the nervous system and brain.  The ear noises cannot be helped in this way.

Hyperacusis and ear ringing will not magically go away.  However, there have been developed several therapies which are useful for both.  A few of these rely on sound desensitization techniques.  It is thought that if a person is given a device to help him or her become habituated to hearing sound, that noise will become less distressing.  This is usually combined with a specific type of counseling which involves going into great detail to describe the processes by which their hearing is malfunctioning.  It also is aimed at helping the patient to cope with and change their behavior in relationship to hyperacusis and ear ringing.   

Hyperacusis and ear ringing, or tinnitus, are associated to such a degree that one is rarely mentioned without reference to the other.  What is it like to have the two conditions simultaneously?  Only one who suffers it truly knows.