Hyperacusis

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Overview

Hyperacusis is a condition characterized by an over-sensitivity to a specific frequency of sound or intolerance to reasonable environmental sounds. A person with hyperacusis has difficulty accepting everyday sounds; some sounds may seem offensively loud to that person but not to others. In hyperacusis, a person gives inappropriate or exaggerated responses to sounds that are neither uncomfortable nor threatening loud to an average person; even low-intensity sounds can elicit the reaction[1][2].

Classification

Based on the symptoms, hyperacusis may be classified as Cochlear and vestibular hyperacusis[3][4][5].

1) Cochlear hyperacusis: (the most common form of hyperacusis) presents with ear pain, annoyance, and general intolerance to any sounds that most people don't notice or consider unpleasant. Crying spells or panic attacks may result from cochlear hyperacusis. As many as 86% of hyperacusis sufferers also have tinnitus.

2) Vestibular hyperacusis: The sufferer may experience dizziness, nausea, or a loss of balance when certain pitched sounds are present.

Anxiety, stress, and phonophobia may be present in both types of hyperacusis. Someone with either form of hyperacusis may develop avoidant behavior to avoid a stressful sound situation or avoid embarrassing themself in a social case that might involve noise.

Causes

The Common causes of hyperacusis include[6][7][7][8][2]:

  • Loud noise experience.
  • Recreational and industrial noise acquaintance and noise-related hearing loss.
  • Expert musicians specifically those playing rock music and exposed to extended periods of amplified sound.
  • Other causes that can lead to hyperacusis include migraine, Lyme disease, psychiatric illness such as post-traumatic stress disorder, and Williams syndrome.
  • The most common cause of hyperacusis is overexposure to excessively high decibel levels (or sound pressure levels).
  • Some come down with hyperacusis suddenly by firing a gun, having an airbag deploy in their car, taking ear sensitive drugs.

Other causes can be due to the following:

Symptoms

In cochlear hyperacusis (the most common form of hyperacusis), the symptoms are ear pain, annoyance, and general intolerance to any sounds that most people don't notice or consider unpleasant. Crying spells or panic attacks may result from cochlear hyperacusis. As many as 86% of hyperacusis sufferers also have tinnitus.

In vestibular hyperacusis, the sufferer may experience feelings of dizziness, nausea, or a loss of balance when certain pitched sounds are present. For instance, someone with vestibular hyperacusis may feel like they are falling and as a result involuntarily grimace and clutch for something to brace themselves with.

Anxiety, stress, and/or phonophobia may be present in both types of hyperacusis. Someone with either form of hyperacusis may develop avoidant behavior in order to try to avoid a stressful sound situation or to avoid embarrassing themself in a social situation that might involve noise.

Treatment

The most common treatment for hyperacusis is retraining therapy which uses broadband noise. Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT), a treatment originally used to treat tinnitus, uses broadband noise to treat hyperacusis. Pink noise can also be used to treat hyperacusis. By listening to broadband noise at soft levels for a disciplined period of time each day, patients can rebuild (i.e., re-establish) their tolerances to sound. When seeking treatment, it is important that the physician determine the patient's Loudness Discomfort Levels (LDL) so that hearing tests (brainstem auditory evoke response) or other diagnostic tests which involve loud noise (MRI) do not worsen the patient's tolerance to sound.

People

See also

External links

Template:Diseases of the ear and mastoid process he:היפראקוזיס nl:Hyperacusis fi:Hyperakusia Template:WikiDoc Sources

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  2. 2.0 2.1 Klein AJ, Armstrong BL, Greer MK, Brown FR (1990). "Hyperacusis and otitis media in individuals with Williams syndrome". J Speech Hear Disord. 55 (2): 339–44. doi:10.1044/jshd.5502.339. PMID 2329796.
  3. Baguley DM (2003). "Hyperacusis". J R Soc Med. 96 (12): 582–5. doi:10.1258/jrsm.96.12.582. PMC 539655. PMID 14645606.
  4. Baguley DM, Axon P, Winter IM, Moffat DA (2002). "The effect of vestibular nerve section upon tinnitus". Clin Otolaryngol Allied Sci. 27 (4): 219–26. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2273.2002.00566.x. PMID 12169120.
  5. Scharf B, Magnan J, Chays A (1997). "On the role of the olivocochlear bundle in hearing: 16 case studies". Hear Res. 103 (1–2): 101–22. doi:10.1016/s0378-5955(96)00168-2. PMID 9007578.
  6. Tyler RS, Pienkowski M, Roncancio ER, Jun HJ, Brozoski T, Dauman N; et al. (2014). "A review of hyperacusis and future directions: part I. Definitions and manifestations". Am J Audiol. 23 (4): 402–19. doi:10.1044/2014_AJA-14-0010. PMID 25104073.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Di Stadio A, Dipietro L, Ricci G, Della Volpe A, Minni A, Greco A; et al. (2018). "Hearing Loss, Tinnitus, Hyperacusis, and Diplacusis in Professional Musicians: A Systematic Review". Int J Environ Res Public Health. 15 (10). doi:10.3390/ijerph15102120. PMC 6209930. PMID 30261653.
  8. Halevi-Katz DN, Yaakobi E, Putter-Katz H (2015). "Exposure to music and noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) among professional pop/rock/jazz musicians". Noise Health. 17 (76): 158–64. doi:10.4103/1463-1741.155848. PMC 4918652. PMID 25913555.