Page 34 - Changes and Challenges

Dementia
Changes and Challenges
4
A few lucky individuals I know, have received a diagnosis of Hyperacousis .
Simple put this means we have an increased sensitivity to some frequencies
and volume ranges of normal environmental sound. It results in some
common everyday sounds becoming painful and loud, resulting in anxiety,
stress and phonophobia.
The coping mechanism we adopt is avoidance behaviour, which means we
often avoid some environments and social situations.

The only people I know aware of Hyperacousis are people living with
Dementia. One implication of this lack of awareness in the general population,
is like so many other symptoms we have, we are not believed and dismissed.
Just because it doesn’t affect you doesn’t mean that it doesn’t affect us or
cause us pain.

Our level of distress is often increased because those around us are
unaffected by these sounds, (sometimes they may actually and unknowingly
contribute to them) and often downplay our real distress.
A simple solution that was suggested by a professional involved a hearing aid.
This amplified all sounds, removed any directional information and in general
not only made the situation worse but added more problems. (See The Role of
Technology. Page 42)

Nociception, and Levels of Pain.
th
I have a hobby of building a 1/87 (HO) scale model railway. One common
activity involves the use of sharp knives and scalpels to cut and shape plastics
and wood. I sometimes find myself about to drop a small part and realise that
it is slipping from my fingers because of the copious amount of blood seeping
from a small cut that I was until then unaware of. Fortunately, even though I
take low levels of blood thinners I usually stop bleeding quickly.

It often takes some time for the sensation of pain to occur. This is particularly
the case when I am fully occupied on a task. Also, things that may have once

4 Hyperacousis (or Hyperacusis) is a recognised debilitating hearing disorder, occurring
in between 4% to 15% of the population.
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