Additional recommendations about: Family and Friends - 3/3

This is the last part of the additional recommendations list related to Family and Friends (and others) when hyperacusis and tinnitus arise:

11. Other things that are difficult are coughing, sneezing, clapping, and loud laughing. Many people add sound to their sneeze. This sounds funny but is true. Many people also laugh extra loud to show their appreciation for how much they are being entertained.

12. If your spouse has hyperacusis and you are relaxing in bed together, keep a couple of things in mind. Rustling newspapers, tearing out coupons, loud yawning, belching, and snoring are all problems. If you question our ear problems because we snore, remember that we cannot hear ourselves when we are sleeping unless a sudden loud sound occurs. A difficult situation is when one spouse has hyperacusis and the other has hearing loss. Their ability to live and sleep together is summed up in one great word - LOVE.

13. No matter what, your condition cannot be hidden and must be explained to your employer. This supplement will help you do that. If you do clerical work and use a typewriter - ask to be retrained on a computer.

14. Check consumer-rating publications whenever you are shopping for a major appliance or automobile. Some magazines are finally including ratings for noise. These are very helpful and often allow us to select the best product without having to listen to it first, or measure it with a sound level meter.

15. It is very difficult when individuals with hyperacusis must have dental work done on their teeth. Most feel it would make good sense to wear foam earplugs while teeth need to be drilled so that the sound would not further affect their sound tolerances. Actually, the opposite is true. When dental drilling is done, most of the sound comes from bone conduction. It is more important to leave ear protection out but have the dentist take regular intermissions (every 30 seconds) so your ears can rest. Wearing ear protection traps the sound inside your head and this is more troublesome to your ears. Recent new technology has produced a tool which works like a miniature sand blaster rather than a drill. This procedure is much more compatible to our ears.

16. Some of us have problems with wax buildup in our ears. If you have sensitive ears, never have your ear doctor flush out your ears with water. The noise is far more than our ears can stand. Earwax must be removed manually. Ear doctors do not like removing wax manually, but there are so many people over the years that have come down with tinnitus and/or hyperacusis from their ears being irrigated to remove wax, it is a clear danger to our ears. Other methods include over-the-counter wax softening drops. Even this procedure, if directions are followed can work well. This will sound overwhelming, but remember - anything you and your family learn from this point will help a great deal. @

Texts extracted from The Hyperacusis Network web page (Supplement section), with the permission of its editor. (see “related links” in this blog)