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Hearing Sensitivity (Hyperacusis)
Hyperacusis makes ordinary sounds feel loud or painful. We look at central auditory gain, sensory balance, nervous system threat, migraine, concussion, circulation, and the brainstem.
What you may be noticing
Dishes clattering, a child shrieking, a car door, a restaurant at dinner hour: ordinary sounds land like an assault. Some people feel ear pain or fullness after noise. Others feel irritation, panic, or exhaustion in loud places. You may have started wearing earplugs everywhere, which brings relief and yet seems to make the world louder over time.
Sudden hearing loss in one ear is an emergency. See an ear specialist within days, because early treatment matters.
Why it is rarely one thing
Hyperacusis is rarely a problem of the ear alone. In most cases the central auditory system has turned up its gain. When the brain receives less input, or perceives danger, it amplifies sound to compensate. Not ears that are too sensitive, but a brain that has raised the volume.
Common contributors include noise exposure, hearing loss, concussion, migraine, facial nerve involvement, Lyme disease, and post-viral states. The limbic system and autonomic nervous system color how loud and how threatening sound feels. Overprotecting with constant earplugs can increase central gain further.
I read hearing as one input among several. The brain blends sound with balance, vision, and body position, and when one channel is weaker or louder than its partner, that sensory asymmetry can push the autonomic system toward alarm. Circulation to the inner ear and low-grade inflammatory signaling may add to the load, a working hypothesis we test against your exam and labs. Central gain is adjustable. The same plasticity that raised the volume can lower it when the brain receives steady, safe sound and the nervous system feels calmer.
Patterns we look for
- Hearing loss and tinnitus, and whether loss is one-sided or both sides, sudden or gradual.
- Concussion and brainstem function.
- Migraine and its sensory amplification.
- Autonomic balance and sympathetic overdrive.
- Asymmetry between auditory, vestibular, visual, and proprioceptive input.
- Neuroinflammation and post-viral or tick-borne patterns.
- Jaw and neck tension, including TMJ patterns.
- Sleep quality and stress chemistry.
How I evaluate it
The comprehensive functional neurological exam assesses cranial nerves, brainstem reflexes, saccades and eye movements, vestibular function, jaw and cervical mechanics, and autonomic responses, mapping side-to-side differences. I coordinate with an audiologist for hearing thresholds and loudness discomfort testing, and with an ear specialist when hearing has changed.
Functional labs may include magnesium, B12, vitamin D, inflammatory markers, a thyroid panel, and infection screening when your history suggests it. A sound diary shows which settings and states of fatigue make sound feel louder.
How we address it
- Coordinate with your audiologist and use protection only for genuinely loud settings.
- Calm the threat response first with slow breathing, vagal tone training, and nervous system regulation.
- Reduce neuroinflammation, support circulation, and replete minerals.
- Address jaw, neck, and brainstem contributors.
- Rebalance sensory input so auditory, vestibular, visual, and body-position signals agree, through brain-based rehabilitation.
- Recalibrate auditory gain with graded sound enrichment, often guided by an audiologist.
Children with sound sensitivity often show broader sensory processing patterns, so we look at the whole sensory system, not the ears alone.
The world does not have to stay this loud. Your auditory brain can find a calmer setting.
Book your Comprehensive Functional Medicine Eval/Neurological Exam today to discover what the contributing root causes are that are underlying your health concerns.