Do You Experience Sensitivity to Sounds?

Sensitive hearing is important to address. Find out what type of hearing sensitivity you experience. Notice how you react to certain sounds. That’s a can tell you, and your hearing healthcare provider, a lot about your experiences and what solutions can help.

Do You Have Tinnitus?

If there’s a ringing sound that no one else can hear but you, this might be a sign of tinnitus. This is a condition where people hear an internal buzzing, clicking, ringing, or whooshing sound when there is no external noise that produces it. 

Tinnitus usually occurs when people experience age-related hearing loss (presbycusis) or noise-induced hearing loss, high blood pressure, or a build-up of earwax. These symptoms damage the tiny hair cells located in your ear canal. Incessant ringing sounds can be distracting and dangerous. It can result in long-term hearing loss and social withdrawal. 

Tinnitus Treatment

• Hearing aids - many hearing aids can have sound therapy programs installed. They can improve noise levels in any surroundings. 
• Masking devices - These can be worn in the ear and play ambient noise. You can also simply listen to ambient music using your personal devices.
• Medication - Regulating high blood pressure will prevent more damage to your hearing health.
• White noise device - These can play calming sounds to distract your brain from the ringing noises.

Do You have Hyperacusis?         

If you cannot stand the ear-splitting noise of nails scraping against a chalkboard, you have hyperacusis. This condition can lead to physical pain in your ears that may persist for days to weeks. Average volumes of sound can lead to severe pain, and if the sounds are louder, the more pain you may feel.

Hyperacusis is generally associated with hearing or head trauma. It usually occurs alongside tinnitus. Again, this is caused by lasting damage to the ear’s hair cells. A hearing aid specialist can program hearing aids with sound therapies to detect and mask trigger sounds. 

Do You have Misophonia?

The hatred of sound is known as misophonia. Many people with the condition have extreme,  and irregular, reactions to certain noises. It’s not merely a dislike of a noise. The sound of chewing, scratching, or tapping might make you want to leave an area. 

Physical and emotional reactions as a result of misophonia:

• Anger
• Anxiety/Fear
• Rapid heart rate
• Sweating
• Tightness in your chest

It’s still uncertain as to what causes misophonia. It is grouped with anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and tinnitus. It normally develops in children between the ages of 9 to 12. Hearing aids can help drown these sounds out.

Don’t let your sensitivity to sounds interfere with your life. Contact us at Pure Sound Hearing for a hearing test and consultation with one of our specialists.  

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