If you have a partner with neglected hearing loss, you know that getting their attention can be… a challenge. First, you try to say their name. You say “Greg”, but you get no response because you used an indoor volume level. You try saying Greg’s name a little louder and still nothing. So finally, you shout.
And that’s when Greg spins around with absolutely no appreciation of his comedic timing and says grouchily, “why are you shouting?”
This situation isn’t the result of stubbornness or irritability. Hypersensitivity to loud sound is often reported in those who have hearing loss. And this sensitivity to loud noises can help explain why Greg can’t hear his name at a normal volume but gets aggravated when you shout at him.
Can hearing loss make loud sounds even worse?
So, hearing loss can be kind of curious. Usually, hearing loss will cause your hearing to decline, particularly if it goes untreated. But every now and then, you’ll watch a Michael Bay movie, or be having a conversation, or be having dinner in a restaurant, and things will get really noisy. So loud that it can get uncomfortable. Maybe the movie suddenly gets really loud or someone is yelling to get your attention.
And you’ll think: What’s causing this sensitivity to loud noise?
Which can also make you feel a bit aggravated, honestly. Many individuals will feel like they’re going crazy when they notice this. That’s because they can’t determine how loud anything is. You have a sudden sensitivity to loud sounds even as your friends and family are pointing out your very obvious hearing loss symptoms. It feels like a contradiction.
Auditory recruitment
The cause of this noise sensitivity is a condition known as auditory recruitment. It works like this:
- There are tiny hairs, known as stereocilia, that cover your inner ear. These hairs vibrate when soundwaves enter your ears and this vibration is then converted to sounds by your brain.
- Damage to these hairs is what brings about age-related sensorineural hearing loss. Over time, these delicate hairs are permanently damaged by repeated exposure to loud sounds. Consequently, your hearing becomes less sensitive. The more damaged hairs you have, the less you can hear.
- But this is not an evenly occurring process. There will be a mixture of healthy and damaged hairs.
- So when you hear a loud noise, the damaged hairs “recruit” the healthy hairs (hence the name of the condition) to send a warning message to your brain. All of a sudden, all of the stereocilia fire, and everything becomes very loud.
Think about it this way: That Michael Bay explosion is loud while everything else is quiet. So it’s going to seem louder, when that Michael Bay explosion occurs, than it normally would.
Sounds a lot like hyperacusis
Those symptoms may sound a little familiar. That’s probably because they’re frequently confused with a condition known as hyperacusis. That conflation is, at first, reasonable. Both conditions can cause sounds to get really loud suddenly.
But there are some key differences:
- Hyperacusis isn’t directly caused by hearing loss. Auditory recruitment certainly is.
- When you’re dealing with hyperacusis, noises that are at an objectively ordinary volume seem extremely loud to you. Think about it like this: A shout will still sound like a shout with auditory recruitment; but with hyperacusis, a whisper might sound like a shout.
- Hyperacusis causes pain. Literally. Feeling pain is common for people with hyperacusis. With auditory recruitment, that’s normally not the case.
At the end of the day, auditory recruitment and hyperacusis have a few superficially similar symptoms. But they are very different conditions.
Is there any treatment for audio recruitment?
There isn’t any cure for hearing loss and that’s the bad news. Your hearing will never return once it’s gone. Treatment of hearing loss can prevent this, largely.
This also is true for auditory recruitment. Fortunately, there are ways to successfully address auditory recruitment. In most cases, that treatment will include hearing aids. And there’s a particular calibration for those hearing aids. That’s why addressing auditory recruitment will nearly always require scheduling an appointment with us.
The precise frequencies of sound that are triggering your auditory recruitment will be identified. Then your hearing aids will be dialed in to decrease the volume of those wavelengths. It’s sort of like magic, but it’s using science and technology (so, not really like magic at all, but it works really well is what we’re trying to convey here).
Only specific types of hearing aid will be successful. The symptoms can’t be addressed with over-the-counter hearing devices because they lack the technological sophistication.
Schedule an appointment with us
It’s essential that you recognize that you can find relief from your sensitivity to loud noise. The bonus is that your new hearing aid will make everything sound better.
But it all begins by making an appointment. This hypersensitivity is a typical part of the hearing loss process, it happens to many, many people.
You can get help so call us.
