Hyperacusis -A Medical Condition That Deserves More Attention

Seniors Choice Newsmagazine January 2007 - By Rudy Loeser - I have just recently been made aware of a condition called 'Hyperacusis' that, while not rare, is uncommon enough to be ignored. It deserves more attention. My youngest daughter told me that, for the last 10 years she had been afflicted with this condition, and it has made her life frustrating and painful. The condition began after an accident on Okanagan Lake when she was thrown off a seadoo she was riding as a passenger. Thrown from the craft with some force, and submerged, she eventually surfaced and, subsequently, discovered that her previously normal sense of hearing had been totally altered. For her, it was the beginning of a life from hell. She could no longer bear loud talk, loud music, nor could she tolerate such relatively innocuous sounds as someone chewing meat or slurping a drink. Tongues clipping on lips, lips smacking while eating; in short, all the minute noises associated with eating, generally accepted in polite company, had become intolerable. Those were the soft sound systems. Beyond them were the obvious noises that will annoy you and me, such as the sudden wail of an ambulance, of a giant truck's air brakes, of somebody coughing, or of a door slamming shut. She spent this Christmas with me, her totally delighted Dad, after having seen a physician who seems to have a handle on the symptoms. When she informed me of this hellish condition she had lived with for close to 10 years I was shocked that I had never even heard of it. I keep alert for any newsworthy events, any new developments, and, most certainly, any events related to health, so how had I missed it? The only answer I can come up with is that the condition is not present in enough people, compared to the number of cases of cancer, or heart problems or a host of other ailments and diseases that are in the public eye, and supported by the many appeals to the public's purses. In other words, it falls between the cracks. There are many cases on record, in which sufferers from the ailment have consulted physicians and been subjected to such procedures as an MRI, examinations by neurologists and psychiatrists and been directed to a wide variety of treatments by specialist after specialist. Unfortunately for these folks we live in a world in which people smack their lips while eating, gulp while they swallow liquid and chew gum in our company. Habits that may be totally forgivable in normal circumstances cause great distress for a small percentage of people in our midst. Such is the lot of sufferers of Hyperacusis. In extreme cases, sufferers will not leave their homes for fear of being assaulted by unexpected noises. They withdraw from all social contacts rather than risk being plagued by a cacophony of sound that could well drive them mad. Their emotional distress is enormous. They need to tell their stories, and somebody needs to listen and lobby the medical profession to pay attention to the malaise and to find ways to treat or, at least, alleviate the symptoms. Life with Hyperacusis can be a life from hell for the sufferer and for the people close to them.

 

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