Connect
← Return to Hearing loss -- I can't understand conversations
Discussion
Hearing loss -- I can't understand conversations
Hearing Loss | Last Active: 6 hours ago | Replies (16)Comment receiving replies
@deberh
I have rare hearing problem called autophony. My own voice is extremely loud in my head but other voices are barely discernible. Can't tolerate any thing coming over or through speakers. Church is not bearable as is with any group. I bear some family gatherings but it is stressful. Nearly all restaurants. Do not understand why music needs to be added to the cacophony. I can't find any ENT nor Neurologist who can help. It is heartbreaking to have to learn isolation at age 85 when community was your life. I am planning to apply to Mayo very soon. My doctors tell me it is futile but Heavenly Father will be the judge of that. I discovered one trick to release noise pressure that lasts for a few minutes. Started by cupping my palms over my ears and pumping a few times. ENT okayed my doing it. Since have found You Tube videos about using it for tinnitus. Relief for a few minutes sometimes helps. If anyone can give light here, please🙏 do.
Replies to "@deberh I have rare hearing problem called autophony. My own voice is extremely loud in my..."
Connect
@bootblack
Sorry to learn about the issues you have been facing. I can imagine how frustrating it is. By the way, we share the same age!
I can only mention my own experience about wich I have posted elsewhere before.
With hearing aids in both ears in the past, not only was my own voice too loud, but everything was too loud, regardless where I was. At home, when my wife was banging dishes in the kitchen sink, it could be even painful. Road noise in the car, any restaurant with background music was annoying and it was almost impossible for me to understand when someone was talking too me. Since I got a cochlear implant in one ear and continue to wear a hearing aid in the other ear, I don't hear myself any longer as loud as in the past, and it does not bother me. For me the most important outcome is being able to understand someone talking to me, and as a lover of classical music, being able to enjoy a concert of the symphony orchestra. (Bear in mind that I am still in the lengthy adjustment phase after getting the cochlear implant activated month ago).
The term "autophony" never came up in my discussions with my Clinical Audiologist, however, extensive hearing tests prior to my receiving a cochlear implant, indicated that I had Hyperacusis - I was hearing everything too loud. That diagnosis was never brought up or emphasized by any of the ENT's audiologists I visited, but rather the Clinical Audiologists at the Dallas Ear Institute (We live in a suburb of Dallas).
Regarding your thoughts about consulting with Mayo Clinic, if I would be living nearby and in your situation, I would give it a try.
You mentioned Tinnitus relief. I tried acupuncture and got relief, except it lasted every time for only a few days - and it is expensive. Since I got the cochlear implant, the tinnitus is only sometimes noticeable, and it is by far no longer as bothersome as in the past.