After the acute stage of HSE (herpes simplex encephalitis) I was left with damage to the filtering mechanism between the ear and the brain.  This in very simple terms means that initially I could not filter out any sound around me.  I found it very difficult to hold a conversation if there was music on or the television as I couldn't filter out the other sounds.  This is something that your ears normally do automatically.

In the early stages I avoided going anywhere where this would be a problem i.e. places that had background noise or music, so basically most places!!!!!  As time passed and my concentration improved it became less of a problem.  However it still took more time, effort and concentration to have conversations especially if the surrounding sound was loud and I was tired. 

Nobody addressed this problem in the initial stages but six months down the line my consultant referred me to a hearing specialist, who in turn sent me for a hearing test.  The results of that were fine, he said that the problem was not the hearing, but managing the sound I hear.  Managing sound seemed a bizarre idea to me.  The hearing specialist did say that the virus infection can knock your whole system off balance and although it may compensate a little itself in time he was referring me to a Hearing Therapist to help me manage the problem.

When I eventually went to see the therapist (about 18 months after HSE) she said that she had received this referral from the hearing specialist, and understood that I was suffering from Hypercusis.  Suddenly this hearing 'thing' had a name and it gave me a shock. I hadn't been told that it had a name, up until now it seemed that what was a big problem to me had been shrugged off.

The Hearing therapist gave me what looked like hearing aids that went into the ear and sent  a ' white noise' into the ear to reach  the nerve endings to tell them to calm down a little bit.  I found this a little hard to cope with and was very conscious of the idea that people would think I was deaf and start shouting at me.  The therapist was very understanding of this and said that she understood and ordered for me some similar aids that fit straight in the ear and do the same job. Other suggestions that she gave were relaxation techniques and a sound ball which has all different sounds you can listen to and it is to help the filtering system realise that sound can be pleasant. 

What Do I Think Of It?

Initially I was sceptical about the idea.  However some of the advice has been helpful and the confirmation that I am not going mad and the problem is real and not a figment of my imagination has helped.  As I'm sure happens all the time during the recovery period,  you are usually dealing with people that haven't got a clue what you are talking about.  Although the therapist hadn't treated anyone recovering from Encephalitis before, she had treated the condition, she always listened and seemed to understand.  These people in my experience had been few and far between.

Laura Healy