If you have a partner with neglected hearing loss, you appreciate that getting their attention can be… a problem. First, you try to use their name. “Greg”, you say, but you used a regular, inside volume level, so you get nothing. You try saying Greg’s name a little louder and still no reply. So finally, you shout.
Well this time Greg hears you and grouchily asks what you’re shouting for.
It’s not just stubbornness and impatience that create this situation. Hypersensitivity to loud sound is often reported in those who have hearing loss. So it seems logical that Greg gets cranky when you shout his name after he continually fails to hear you when you talk to him at a normal volume.
Can hearing loss make loud sounds worse?
Hearing loss can be a strange thing. The majority of time, you’ll hear less and less, particularly if your hearing loss remains untreated. But things can get really loud when you’re out at a packed restaurant or watching a Michael Bay movie. So loud that it can become uncomfortable. Maybe the movie gets really loud all of a sudden or someone is shouting to get your attention.
And you’ll wonder why you’re so sensitive to loud noise.
Which can, honestly, put you in a cranky mood. Many people who notice this will feel like they’re going mad. That’s because they can’t determine how loud things are. You have a sudden sensitivity to loud sounds even as your family and friends are pointing out your very obvious hearing loss symptoms. It feels like a contradiction.
Auditory recruitment
A condition called auditory recruitment can trigger these symptoms. this is how it works:
- The interior of your ears are covered in tiny hairs known as stereocilia. When soundwaves enter into your ears, these hairs resonate and your brain converts that signal into sounds.
- Damage to these hairs is what produces age-related sensorineural hearing loss. Loud sounds can damage the hairs over time, and once they are injured, they never heal. Consequently, your hearing becomes less sensitive. Your level of hearing loss will be increasingly more severe the more hairs that are compromised.
- But this process doesn’t happen evenly. There will be a combination of healthy and damaged hairs.
- So when the impaired hairs are exposed to a loud noise, the healthy hairs are “recruited” (thus the condition’s name) to send a message of alarm to your brain. So, all of a sudden, everything gets very loud because all of your stereocilia are firing (just as they would with any other loud sound).
Think about it this way: everything is quiet except for the Michael Bay explosion. So the Michael Bay explosion will seem louder (and more obnoxious) than it otherwise would!
Sounds a lot like hyperacusis
You might think that these symptoms sound a bit familiar. That’s most likely because they’re often confused with a condition called hyperacusis. That confusion is, at first, reasonable. Both conditions can make sounds really loud suddenly.
But there are some key differences:
- While hyperacusis has no connection to hearing loss, there is a direct link between auditory recruitment and hearing loss.
- When you’re dealing with hyperacusis, noises that are at an objectively normal volume seem really loud to you. Think about it like this: A shout will still sound like a shout when you have auditory recruitment; but when you have hyperacusis, a whisper might sound like a shout.
- Hyperacusis is painful. Literally. Feeling pain is common for individuals who have hyperacusis. That’s not necessarily the case with auditory recruitment.
Overall, auditory recruitment and hyperacusis have a few superficially similar symptoms. But they are not the same condition.
Can auditory recruitment be managed?
The bad news is that there’s no cure for hearing loss. Once your hearing is gone, it’s gone. Treatment of hearing loss can largely prevent this.
The same is true of auditory recruitment. Luckily, there are ways to effectively manage auditory recruitment. In most cases, that treatment will include hearing aids. And those hearing aids need to be specifically calibrated. So it will be necessary to schedule an appointment with us.
We’ll be able to identify the particular wavelengths of sound that are causing your auditory recruitment symptoms. Then your hearing aids will be dialed in to decrease the volume of those wavelengths. It’s sort of like magic, only it’s using science and technology (so, not really like magic at all, but it works really effectively is what we’re trying to convey here).
Only certain types of hearing aid will be successful. Over-the-counter hearing aids or sound amplifiers, for example, do not have the necessary technological sophistication and built-in sensitivity, so they won’t be able to deal with your symptoms.
Call us for an appointment
It’s essential that you know that you can get relief from your sensitivity to loud sound. You will also get the extra benefit of using a hearing aid to improve your life’s soundscape.
But making an appointment is the first step. This hypersensitivity is a normal part of the hearing loss process, it happens to many, many people.
You can get help so call us.
