By: Dr. Lindsey Tubaugh
Regardless of the cause of sound sensitivity, there is one treatment that can easily be implemented at home.
Simplified, hyperacusis is an oversensitivity to sounds that others around them perceive as slightly loud and can cope with easily.
For a person who has hyperacusis, when a sound that exceeds their tolerance threshold is met, the sound may elicit the “flight/fight” response in the nervous system.
This can be very difficult and even traumatic for children (and adults) as they try to cope with these sounds that do not seem to bother those around them.
While this is one of the things we treat in our clinic (as well as an upcoming home program that will be available early in 2022), there is something you can do to help jump-start the process of increasing the tolerance to loud sounds—and it is simple!
While the first instinct may be to reach for some sound dampening devices (which you have possibly already tried), sound dampening earplugs can actually make sound sensitivities worse!
I recommend sound dampening devices, or filtered earplugs, on rare occasions when you know your child (or yourself) will be triggered. In fact, I have used them myself for car rides with my kids and during firework shows with good outcomes. You can watch my short YouTube review for one brand of these here:
HOWEVER, THESE MUST BE USED FOR VERY BRIEF AMOUNTS OF TIME.
Now for the good news. One of the best therapies for sound sensitivity is sound therapy. This can easily be implemented for any age!
An explanation of WHY we recommend presenting sounds INSTEAD of reducing sounds, is best illustrated by this analogy:
Imagine you are in an extremely dark gymnasium and someone suddenly turns on a really bright lightbulb 4 feet from your face. All you’ll be able to focus on is that really bright light. Yikes.
Your autonomic nervous system may go into hyperdrive as it tries to determine if this is a threat. Your heart may race, and even if you logically know better, your brain has entered its fight/flight/freeze mode.
Now go back and imagine you are sitting in that same gymnasium but this time all the overhead lights are on. Now when that lightbulb turns on, you still notice it, but it’s far less obtrusive and likely doesn’t mess too much with your autonomic nervous system, if at all.
When put into the reference of sound, this is similar to when a room is quiet and suddenly you hear a really loud sound – say your dog barking at someone walking by. Your nervous system screams and depending on how sensitive you are, that nervous system response can take a while to realize you are safe.
By contrast, imagine you are playing Christmas music while decorating your tree and despite the dog barking at that passerby, the sound is less startling because there are sounds already in the environment.
This is just one of the ways sound therapy works. By having pleasant sounds stimulating the auditory pathways, other sounds that are less pleasant seem less bothersome and may prevent that fight/flight/freeze response.
When sound therapy (sounds played in the environment) can be done throughout the day and night, there are even better benefits that take place in the autonomic nervous system by stimulating the auditory pathways. We are teaching our brains to better cope with non-threatening sounds.
Research has found that when relaxing sounds are played consistently during the day and night at comfortable levels, the threshold for loud sounds increases. That means that by doing this alone without any other therapies, hyperacusis can be significantly helped over time.
So what sounds are best?
- White noise, pink noise, or some other type of broadband noise. You can stream these through any streaming device or even find them on YouTube! I have a fan in my room that is always on at night which provides a broadband sound that helps me sleep better. Noise machines work great too!
- Nature sounds. One of my sons prefers nature sounds to listen to at night. While not as broad in frequency range as the noise types listed above, he finds them very relaxing—which makes sense because he is my outdoors person.
- Music. My youngest son prefers having both a fan on low as well as soft music while he sleeps.
- Music is also great to play throughout the day in the home and at mealtime (this can help with those who have misophonia in addition).
- Classical music while studying (particularly Baroque) has been shown to increase concentration and can be an excellent source of sound therapy. This is what I use when I’m doing focused work in the office and can definitely help my ADD brain to focus.
What are the best devices for playing sounds? Well, for a thorough sound therapy program, you’ll use a few different types of devices. This can be as inexpensive as a $20 box fan up to over $2000 for a pair of hearing devices that stream sound directly into the ear on an ongoing basis.
There are MANY things that can be used for sound therapy besides expensive hearing devices, however, and what’s best will depend on your child’s situation and preferences. If you are going out and worried your child may struggle, my personal favorite is Apple Air Pods with transparency mode if it is in your budget.
These allow you to stream pleasant sound while still hearing the sounds around you. And if things get too loud, you can push a button and activate noise cancellation while still streaming sound so the auditory pathways are getting the auditory information it needs.
While I could go on and on about this (and often do) the short story is this:
Continued auditory deprivation = WORSENING sensitivity to sounds
Pleasant auditory stimulation =LESS SENSITIVITY to sounds
It can take up to 18 months if this is the only method used to treat hyperacusis, however it is a relatively passive and affordable therapy and it’s easy to implement right away.
This is ALWAYS the first thing I recommend to any patient who comes to me with concerns for sound sensitivities! While there are other treatments we can work on in the clinic and through our treatment programs to help with autonomic nervous system regulation, this is where I always start.
As always, if sound sensitivity is extreme, I recommend a hyperacusis evaluation by a qualified audiologist that works in this area. Especially if there is pain, hearing loss, tinnitus and/or dizziness that accompanies it as this can be indicative of something more medically concerning.