Our inventors have developed a patient-specific method and system of expanding the dynamic range in patients with hyperacusis. Our invention utilizes a customizable, in-ear device that combines sound attenuation with loudness suppression as well as a noise generator. The device is used with novel software and counseling to provide a patient-specific treatment to hypersensitivity to sound. This invention effectively transitions the debilitated patient out of sound-attenuating hearing protection devices and into a sound-enriching therapy to promote normal sound tolerance. During treatment, the device attenuates uncomfortable but not comfortable sounds and over time prescribes progressively less output limiting as the therapeutic effect of the noise generator increases the sound tolerance of the wearer. The treatment protocol combines patient counseling with the required loudness suppression (LS) and noise generator (NG) treatment. Together, this can transition the hyperacusic patient from EPs towards normal audition and possibly helpful amplification.
Representation of Hyperacusis Device and Its Components