Hi. I have had similar experiences to most of you. In the early days of my hearing loss, 14 or 15 years ago, I couldn't leave my apartment because everything was just too loud. I went outside once and a bus came by and it felt like a bomb had gone off in my head. Also, my tinnitus was so loud inside my head that it was hard to deal with, even if I stayed inside. After a couple of months, my hyperacusis went away, or at least my brain acclimated to it. My tinnitus never went away, it's always there, but I'm so used to it at this point that it mostly fades into the background. It's funny that just typing this out has made my tinnitus louder and more apparent. I still get hyperacusis from time to time, when I have an attack (I have Meniere's), but it usually lasts for less than a week. To this day I still don't go to loud restaurants, movie theaters, concerts, etc. I wish I could say it's less frustrating 15 years in to this, but I still find it all incredibly frustrating. I try to find restaurants that have outdoor seating and that aren't super crowded (at least when we're not in the middle of a pandemic). I have tried wearing a hearing aid in my right ear (my left is completely gone) but I had the same experience as lhester10. It just made everything too loud and painful. I'm sorry that wayfarer has been experiencing this for such a long time, I can't imagine what it would have been like if mine hadn't eased off.

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