Is there any truth to this?

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My mother says that if you have hyperacusis, wearing earplugs will make your autism worse. Aside from the utter impossibility of that, what legitimate research is she misinterpreting LEIK WOAH here, if any?

Temple Grandin said in a talk (which can be found on Youtube - it's an hour long) that if you wear ear plugs for more than half the day, it can actually make your hearing more sensitive. I don't know how much research there is supporting this or what is the exact amount of time, but it makes intuitive sense that if you wear them too much that would happen.

Autism worse? No. Hypersensitive hearing worse? Yes. I'm often told to put in earplugs if something is bothering me but when I take them out things just sound worse that didn't even bother me before. I notice the same effect when listening to earbuds but it isn't as bad.

Thanks. It takes half a day? Because I've noticed that effect after only a couple of minutes.

one time i had such a bad head cold that i could barely hear for a day or two. then they suddenly opened, & my hearing was so acute that i could hear my clothes rustle on my body when i moved.

after a few minutes, my hearing returned to normal.

m.

It is a well-documented effect. It messes with how your brain processes sound. Basically by artificially reducing sound your brain goes why isn't this louder? and it adjusts for the difference, making you more, not less sensitive to sound.

i have tinnitus, wow, do i ever, and a smidge of hyperacusis. wearing any sort of covering over my ears creates
an increase of tinnitus 'sound' (2.5 kilohertz) and eventually a jump in loudness being a difficulty.

docs tell me and what i read on my own.....get away from loud sounds. do not try to block.

have no clue as to what your mom is talking about.

I would guess this is what your mom is misinterpreting.


Errrr . . . that isn't normal? Seriously. I usually don't notice it because of louder noises and the like, but if I pay attention, or the room is really quiet, I can almost always hear my clothes rustling.

I don't know, just quoting what she said. I have oversensitive hearing as well, but I hate the feel of ear plugs in my ears so I rarely wear them - when I do, it is because I am trapped in a situation where there is so much noise that I would basically have a meltdown if I didn't put earplugs in. In these cases, my hearing doesn't feel the need to adjust itself, probably because I can hear things loudly enough even with the earplugs.

A few years ago my mom got me some of those noise-canceling headphones ... but I felt silly wearing them.

One of the reasons I don't like pants is because the sound of the pant legs brushing together when I walk is so obnoxious.

I can basically hear EVERYTHING. And god does it get annoying when your trying to sleep and you can still hear the cars driving 1/2 mile+ away :/ and yes, I can hear the clothing rustle 24/7, always have. that among other fine sounds, such as electricity humming through wires and such. This has actually been the cause of quite a few stressful moments for me. (I cant stand the sound of smooching at all for one.)

How about wearing an mp3 player that plays soft pink noise (or white or brown noise - whatever you like best)?

The noise muffles or hides background sounds without being so loud that it will cause/worsen tinnitus. People often say that playing pink noise at night (e.g. through some speakers on either side of your bed) helps you to sleep better.

Clothes, heck. I can hear my SKIN brushing against itself. I have found that there is no way to keep my body or its coverings from making tons of noise anytime I move.

Either that's normal or I'm weirder than I thought.

noise just drives me nuts to be honest. Currently ive been using active meditation to try to keep my cool though, but it took a while to just zone it out as much as I have done. As for sleeping, ive tried various sorts, and somehow it just distracts me from sleeping even more so. Thats also the main reason I took uup meditation in the first place, and it does help.

What really drives me up the wall is I'll be watching TV at a good volume and the commercial comes on - at three times the volume.
I thought there was a regulation to prevent that at the FCC, yes?? At least there was supposed to be in the US.

I guess it's just another reason not to watch TV. Out of 500 channels, there isn't anything worth watching.

Have you ever experienced a reduction in hearing after over-stimulation?
Like if I'm at work and I forget my earmuffs as a jet is coming in, my hearing is pretty much shot for about the next hour. Of course it's been a long time since I did that, and mgt. frowns on not wearing hearing protection.