Photo courtesy of Katrina Caro
By Bryan Pollard, Founding Member, The Quiet Coalition
Katrina Caro’s hyperacusis developed after a blow to the face. The sobering story of her injury and its aftermath is told in the New York Post.
Caro was working as a nightclub waitress when she was inadvertently punched in the jaw. What appeared to be a dental injury turned out to be far worse. The jaw pain spread to her ears, causing hyperacusis. She has tinnitus, too.
While many people may be bothered by common noises, Caro suffers actual ear pain induced by many of the everyday loud noises in New York City. For Caro “even the slightest sound is perceived as significantly louder and can cause excruciating pain.” “[A] pencil dropped on the floor,” for example, “sounds like a building collapsing.”
The New York Post interviewed Hyperacusis Research President Bryan Pollard, who stated that “[t]he disorder is often caused by noise overexposure or head trauma.” Pollard noted that “[t]he pain is crippling and life-altering,” adding that “[s]ounds as normal as a squeaky door feel like a knife in the ear.”
For more information about Katrina Caro’s story, read this post at Hyperacusis Research.
