I wanted to share what happened to me, in the hopes that none of you will have to go through what I did. And if you do get this condition, you will know what to do to treat it.
In January of 2012, the day after going shooting, I started experiencing excruciating ear pains in both ears and faint tinnitus in one ear. I was went to see an ear doctor, was treated for a fungal infection in my ear. The tinnitus went away and I thought I was getting better.
Over a few weeks, the ear pains and tinnitus returned. I started experiencing pain in my ears when hearing noises.
I gradually developed full-blown hyperacusis- a collapsed tolerance for sound. Every day sounds, especially high pitched ones became excruciatingly painful to hear. Hearing silverware clinking, or my children’s voices became agony.
No one knows exactly what causes this condition in the brain, but the most common thing that brings it on is noise exposure. Even though I wore hearing protection when shooting, I still got it. I can’t say 100% for sure that shooting caused it; I also developed TMJ disorder in 2012, which is a suspected cause also, but I think it is most likely. Hyperacusis not really associated with measureable hearing loss (mine is pretty much normal) but it is highly associated with tinnitus- I got both.
I went to different ear doctors, who generally knew absolutely nothing about hyperacusis, and put forth no effort at all to treat me. One told me I should go to a shrink, and “learn to deal with it” because he didn’t know that it would ever improve.
Finally, I went to an audiologist in another state who treated me with sound therapy (called Tinnitus Retraining Therapy). I wore miniature sound generators in my ears all day that generated white noise, which gradually retrained my brain to accept sound again. In about six months of treatment, my sound tolerance went from 60 decibels to 105 decibels (90-100 is normal). I still can’t tolerate very noisy things like parades, but it does not pain me in my ordinary life. I will never shoot a gun again though. The tinnitus has never gone away.
I recommend that you:
1) Shoot recreationally only with silencers and muffs + plugs. Conventionally hearing protection didn’t stop me from getting this.
2) If you get this, immediately see an audiologist trained in Tinnitus Retraining Therapy. It is expensive, but worth it. I would have been saved a lot of agony if I had done that first.
Feel free to ask me any questions you want.
In January of 2012, the day after going shooting, I started experiencing excruciating ear pains in both ears and faint tinnitus in one ear. I was went to see an ear doctor, was treated for a fungal infection in my ear. The tinnitus went away and I thought I was getting better.
Over a few weeks, the ear pains and tinnitus returned. I started experiencing pain in my ears when hearing noises.
I gradually developed full-blown hyperacusis- a collapsed tolerance for sound. Every day sounds, especially high pitched ones became excruciatingly painful to hear. Hearing silverware clinking, or my children’s voices became agony.
No one knows exactly what causes this condition in the brain, but the most common thing that brings it on is noise exposure. Even though I wore hearing protection when shooting, I still got it. I can’t say 100% for sure that shooting caused it; I also developed TMJ disorder in 2012, which is a suspected cause also, but I think it is most likely. Hyperacusis not really associated with measureable hearing loss (mine is pretty much normal) but it is highly associated with tinnitus- I got both.
I went to different ear doctors, who generally knew absolutely nothing about hyperacusis, and put forth no effort at all to treat me. One told me I should go to a shrink, and “learn to deal with it” because he didn’t know that it would ever improve.
Finally, I went to an audiologist in another state who treated me with sound therapy (called Tinnitus Retraining Therapy). I wore miniature sound generators in my ears all day that generated white noise, which gradually retrained my brain to accept sound again. In about six months of treatment, my sound tolerance went from 60 decibels to 105 decibels (90-100 is normal). I still can’t tolerate very noisy things like parades, but it does not pain me in my ordinary life. I will never shoot a gun again though. The tinnitus has never gone away.
I recommend that you:
1) Shoot recreationally only with silencers and muffs + plugs. Conventionally hearing protection didn’t stop me from getting this.
2) If you get this, immediately see an audiologist trained in Tinnitus Retraining Therapy. It is expensive, but worth it. I would have been saved a lot of agony if I had done that first.
Feel free to ask me any questions you want.