Hyperacusis, a marked intolerance to normal environmental sound, is a common symptom in patients with tinnitus, Williams syndrome, autism, and other neurologic diseases. It has been suggested that an imbalance of excitation and inhibition in the central auditory system (CAS) may play an important role in hyperacusis. Recent studies found that noise exposure, one of the most common causes of hea...

Perceptual abnormalities such as hyperacusis and tinnitus often occur after acoustic overexposure. Although such exposure can also result in permanent threshold elevation, some individuals with noise-induced hyperacusis or tinnitus show clinically normal thresholds. Recent work in animals has shown that a "neuropathic" noise exposure can cause immediate, permanent degeneration of the cochlear n...

We report a case of a patient with severe hyperacusis, photophobia, and skin hypersensitivity. The patient was initially treated with sound therapy and medical therapy for 4 months and successfully with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and cognitive behavioral therapy which improved her mood and the tolerance for sounds and light.

INTRODUCTION The ear can be damaged by excessive noise levels. Noise can arise from variety of occupational/recreational sources causing tinnitus, hearing loss and hyperacusis. The use of different types of ear phones for entertainment has become very common/fashionable among our youths. OBJECTIVES This research aims to determine the prevalence of use of ear phones for entertainment and the p...

The present paper extends previous efforts to compare models of additivity of masking in normal and impaired listeners to measures of loudness. A model that provides a good account of additivity of masking for normal and impaired listeners, the modified power-law model with compressed internal noise, also provides a good description of basic loudness data from normal and impaired listeners. Thi...