Hyperacusis

[lisa2701]

Today my son got a dx of hyperacusis. My husband and I were advised to use behaviour management techniques with him, explain the noises, warn him of loud noises, try to slowly expose him to noises, reassure him etc etc to help reduce the anxiety associated with them.

 

We were also given a sound enrichment device that plays things such as waves, white noise, rain etc. We have been told to play this during the night while he sleeps in a bid to try to recalibrate his hearing.

 

I was wondering if anyone on here has hyperacusis and if they have tried playing a continuous noise while they sleep did it make any difference?

 

Thanks

 

Lisa x

[coolblue]

Hi Lisa

 

My son was diagnosed with hyperacusis when he was 10, although he'd had problems with it for years. I don't know whether you are interested in the research, but if you are, there are a number of different proposed causes for it - Baguley's paper gives a good overview;

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC539655/

 

And several different types of hyperacusis have been identified, often associated with different developmental conditions;

 

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00376.x/full

 

We had an auditory training cd from a consultant which my son found very uncomfortable to listen to and has never managed to listen to for more than two weeks at a time. We've also tried a proprietary (very expensive) auditory training programme, with exactly the same outcomes - ds finds it very uncomfortable and couldn't tolerate it for more than a few days. The course providers said that he needed a specially structured introduction to the course - which wasn't mentioned in the accompanying booklet. We have also tried birdsong recordings and pure tones (flute etc) which he finds easier to listen to but exhausting, so we are currently taking a break.

 

In short, I think it would be worth trying anything that doesn't cause your son distress, but be aware that there may be different types of hyperacusis and different causes (including physiological ones) so it might not be a case of his hearing needing recalibrating.

 

cb

[lisa2701]

Hi Lisa

 

My son was diagnosed with hyperacusis when he was 10, although he'd had problems with it for years. I don't know whether you are interested in the research, but if you are, there are a number of different proposed causes for it - Baguley's paper gives a good overview;

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC539655/

 

And several different types of hyperacusis have been identified, often associated with different developmental conditions;

 

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00376.x/full

 

We had an auditory training cd from a consultant which my son found very uncomfortable to listen to and has never managed to listen to for more than two weeks at a time. We've also tried a proprietary (very expensive) auditory training programme, with exactly the same outcomes - ds finds it very uncomfortable and couldn't tolerate it for more than a few days. The course providers said that he needed a specially structured introduction to the course - which wasn't mentioned in the accompanying booklet. We have also tried birdsong recordings and pure tones (flute etc) which he finds easier to listen to but exhausting, so we are currently taking a break.

 

In short, I think it would be worth trying anything that doesn't cause your son distress, but be aware that there may be different types of hyperacusis and different causes (including physiological ones) so it might not be a case of his hearing needing recalibrating.

 

cb

 

Thank you so much for your reply. I am very interested in having a good read about it so I will be straight off here to start having a read at those links, thank you.

 

I am sorry to hear how difficult your son find his hyperacusis. I can't imagine how scary it must be to have something like hyperacusis. My son's hearing has always been sensitive but it has probably gotten worse in the last couple of years.

 

i was given a sound box yesterday that play continuous noises such as, heartbeat, waves, rain, white noise, a river, birds, crickets etc etc. I was told to let him choose the sound and the volume and to play it to him while he slept. Last night he chose the heartbeat...probably the easiest thing (for my son) to listen to out of them all, but none the less he kept it on the whole night. Not sure if a heartbeat is likely to make much difference but we can work up to the other things.

 

I was also told to use behaviour management techniques with him where I was advised to explain the noise to him, reassure him, try to get him involved in making the noise thats upsetting him etc.

 

Anyways, i'm eager to go get reading so I'm gonna dive off and have a look .

 

Thanks again!!

[puffin]

My 13 year old NT daughter has hyperacusis

 

The best help that she has had was actually from a physio who taught her various relaxation exercises as her stress and tension at the perceived loud noises made the situation a lot worse

 

We have bought some of our own equipment that has been useful

- from a DIY department we got some of those big headphones that people wear when operating machinery - these are very useful when she has to be in high-noise situations - however she finds them embarassing

- from a specialist music store we got some special ear plugs that are designed for rock musicians with hearing problems - they are designed to partially block noise so you can still hear but softer - the ones we have have 3 different levels - she wears these in school as they are less obstrusive than the headphones

 

However I won't pretend that it does not affext her life as it does - she is not able to join in if her friends go to the cinema and has had to drop out of school orchestra etc - we have also noticed that she has developed travel sickness since she had hyperacusia