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Letters to the Herald

People with hyperacusis mostly suffer in silence

Posted

There are getting to be fewer and fewer places to go to for peace and quiet. For example, many libraries are not quiet.

Moms and library staff do nothing when a young child screams very loud. Many children that used to go to summer camp are now going to nature camps making ungodly levels of sound.

I have a hearing problem I have been dealing with all of my life at 56 years. I finally got a title: “Hyperacusis.”

To better understand this, it’s the opposite of someone who needs a hearing aide. I can’t stand loud dances, bars, weddings and big crowds. It is like people are screaming in my ears from all directions, or being in the front row of a rock concert.

In recent years, libraries which mostly used to be quiet, now, some have no limit to the amount of sound made there. This situation is very uncomfortable and sometimes very painful to the point that I have to leave.

I have never had anyone express this problem to me. Society just ignores this problem. Many claim it doesn’t exist and don’t know about it.

I am not the only one who suffers with it. We usually suffer in silence.

Martin Pardys, Holland


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