Write-up from December 6, 2018 support group meeting

We met on a cold Thursday night last month (December 6th ) at Potomac Audiology, where we heard via call-in from Bryan Pollard, President of Hyperacusis Research Limited. His organization is in Boston: https://hyperacusisresearch.org/
Bryan's specific area of study is hyperacusis and related pain/discomfort. He gave a slide presentation to explain the nature of hyperacusis and how severe it can be. He introduced a couple of case studies that might be familiar (the young girl who got it from an air horn, and the young violinist who now composes only quiet music). He also updated us on promising scientific experiments with medications and devices. Download his slides here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/2tf923t8kjey5ic/2018-12_ATA_SupportGroup1.pdf/file
A recent article of his explains much of the science covered by his slides: http://www.mediafire.com/file/i5n2e044nbyk6k6/Unravelling_the_mystery_of_hyperacusis_with_pain_%257C_ENT_%2526_Audiology_News.pdf/file

Bryan himself suffers from hyperacusis, which he believes is due to sound he was exposed to from a loud wood chipper several years ago. Read his story on page 9 of a prior Tinnitus Today issue, here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/wg9gru6rcgucx18/Tinnitus_Today.pdf/file

From the Q & A with him: His organization has raised $200,000. NIH has increased its Tinnitus research funding from $1.5 a few years ago to $4 million now. The two young ladies in the case studies both found that taking a “hiatus” from annoying sound to be useful. Bryan himself uses ear-plugs as needed, and manages his symptoms while leading a busy life. He worked with NIH (NIOSH) to develop a decibel-measuring “app" to determine safe sound exposure levels for OSHA (it’s in the App Store, look for “NIOSH Sound Level Meter”) to help determine when/if you need to put in ear-plugs when out in public. He also finds an anti-inflammaatory dietary regimen helpful, as well as the use of Benzodiazepine medications in low doses (such as Xanax, Valium).

Bryan started and runs Hyperacusis Research Limited exclusively to raise funds for ongoing scientific research work to alleviate hyperacusis. He would appreciate it if our members with hyperacusis (probably most of us) would participate in his hyperacusis survey, here: https://hyperacusisresearch.org/hyperacusis-research-survey/

 Coming up!
-A FaceBook “secret group” for us is in the works.
-Our next meeting is February 21st at Potomac Audiology with guest Dr. Virginia Lindahl (psycho-therapist).  See you then.