Hyperacusis

Hyperacusis is an over-sensitivity to sound. If you have hyperacusis, although you may have relatively normal hearing at quieter levels, you  will find moderately loud sounds painfully loud.

Hyperacusis may only be evident at certain, usually high, frequencies. Myself, I find the sound of a TV tube uncomfortably loud (The field coil noise at around 16 khz). Most people can't hear it much at all. This is mild hyperacusis. Some people have very bad hyperacusis that makes it almost impossible for them to go outside.

A related condition is known as 'recruitment'. If you have recruitment, you are deaf to quiet sounds, but once they reach a certain loud-ish volume, they become painfully loud to you, so there's no in-between.

Nowadays, the terms tend to be rather blurred. I've not come across anyone saying they have recruitment, but apparently 40 per cent of tinnitus sufferers suffer from some degree of hyperacusis.

It is felt by doctors in the field that protecting your ears too much can make hyperacusis worse, and it is best to accustom yourself to moderate levels of noise if you want to deal with it effectively.

I'm concerned though that certain high frequency noises that I find uncomfortable do make my tinnitus worse, so it's a matter knowing your own condition and of balancing one against the other. Certainly, you need to stretch your tolerances gently, but be careful.

If you have bad hyperacusis, or want to know more about it, check out the following:

The Hyperacusis Network
http://www.visi.com/~minuet/hearing/hyperacusis/hdef_sht.html

The Hyperacusis Resource Page
http://members.aol.com/lythstrae/hyperacusis/