Critical Warning: What You Need to Know About Hyperacusis Treatment
If you or someone you know is experiencing severe sound sensitivity, you need to know that mainstream internet search results often promote outdated, dangerous advice. Standard websites frequently advocate for “Gradual Sound Exposure,” “Sound Therapy” or “Desensitization.” While this may help with mild loudness intolerance, it can cause severe, long term worsening of symptoms for those with pain hyperacusis (noxacusis).
Please read and consider these essential, peer-reviewed research articles and expert interviews that explain the neurological reality of hyperacusis pain:
Understanding the Gap in Care: Read this breakdown of hyperacusis treatment in which researcher Dr. Kelly Jahn discusses the lack of knowledge most audiologists have about the difference between sound sensitivity versus pain hyperacusis. She says that “Only a few knew it involved pain, and some said it’s a mental health condition.”
A Shift in Audiology: Review this direct perspective from a leading audiologist on what I have learned from my hyperacusis patients regarding the harm caused by sound exposure therapy for those with pain hyperacusis. She says “I now know it’s wrong to tell pain hyperacusis patients to stop wearing earplugs or earmuffs or to initiate sound therapy.”
The Reality of the Pain: Read Dr. Marsha Johnson’s crucial hyperacusis interview where she says “My patients with pain hyperacusis found that sound therapy made them worse. We need to get the warning out.”
The Scientific Evidence: Dive into the clinical data published in this Hearing Journal article which details the findings of several hyperacusis surveys.
Treatments for Hyperacusis Pain: Read this research study published in The Journal of Pain that talks about the lack of understanding that these patients face from healthcare providers. The paper states “Individuals with pain hyperacusis often present with a relatively severe clinical phenotype, wherein they report frequent “setbacks” (i.e., symptom exacerbations in response to trigger sounds) and reduced benefit from behavioral interventions (e.g., sound therapy). Despite the severity of pain hyperacusis, healthcare professionals do not widely recognize the pain hyperacusis phenotype.”
What is Hyperacusis?
Hyperacusis is a rare, misunderstood, painful and debilitating medical condition that causes people to experience physical pain from normal sounds such as water running, people talking and laughing, dishes clanging, telephones ringing, music, car engines, or even refrigerators humming. Patients with severe Hyperacusis experience continuous pain from sound and are often unable to attend malls, restaurants, stores, social gatherings, work, go to school, or even listen to music. Unfortunately most people including most doctors I’ve never even heard of Hyperacusis which means that many patients are either not diagnosed or misdiagnosed as having an emotional condition. There are very few accommodations and policies in place to help people who have Hyperacusis which makes living with this condition even more difficult.
Hyperacusis Awareness: Sound Sensitivity Treatment 