Sound Sensitivities
Sound sensitivity can make ordinary environments like restaurants, workplaces, or family meals feel overwhelming. Led by nationally recognized expert Dr. Natan Bauman, our team evaluates your symptoms and builds a treatment plan to help you regain comfort and control.
Sound Sensitivity Treatment Services
We provide specialized care for children and adults with decreased sound tolerance, including hyperacusis, misophonia, phonophobia, and acoustic shock. Because sound sensitivity can affect relationships, work, school, and social life, we take the time to understand how your symptoms show up day to day.
Early in his 40-plus-year career, Dr. Natan Bauman established a tinnitus and sound over-sensitivity clinic, developing treatment therapies he now teaches to practitioners nationally and internationally. Our team combines sound therapy, counseling, and Tinnitus Retraining Therapy techniques to help you gradually rebuild your tolerance for everyday sounds.
Our Sound Sensitivity Treatment Process
Our sound sensitivity program pairs detailed audiological testing with decades of specialized experience. We work with you, and your family when helpful, to create a plan that brings relief now and supports lasting progress over time.
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Comprehensive Evaluation
We assess your hearing and measure your sound tolerance levels to understand how your auditory system responds.
Trigger and Impact Review
We identify the sounds that bother you most and learn how they affect your sleep, mood, work, and relationships.
Personalized Treatment Plan
Together we build a plan that may include sound therapy, counseling, and practical strategies for difficult settings.
Ongoing Support
Regular follow-ups, including telehealth visits, help us track your progress and adjust your plan as tolerance improves.
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Why Professional Treatment Matters
Sound sensitivity often leads people to avoid restaurants, gatherings, and other places they once enjoyed, which can cause isolation and anxiety over time. Professional treatment provides structured, evidence-based support that helps you respond to sound more comfortably, so you can return to the activities and people that matter most.
Benefits of Sound Sensitivity Treatment
Professional sound sensitivity treatment combines sound therapy with practical coping strategies to help you feel more comfortable in everyday environments. Our experienced team provides individualized care and support every step of the way.
Greater comfort with everyday sounds at home and work
Practical strategies for social settings, school, and travel
Ongoing expert support for long-term confidence and relief
Hyperacusis makes most sounds feel too loud or painful. Misophonia causes strong emotional reactions, like anger or anxiety, to specific trigger sounds.
Yes. While results vary, many patients find that treatment significantly improves their comfort and reduces how much sound affects daily life.
Not usually. Overusing ear protection in quiet settings can make your ears even more sensitive, so we’ll help you find the right balance.
Yes. Misophonia often begins in childhood, and we work with both children and their families to build helpful coping strategies.
Common Questions About Sound Sensitivities
Sound sensitivity can be hard to explain to others and even harder to manage alone. Here are answers to some of the questions our patients and their families ask most often about evaluation and treatment.
Sound sensitivity, or decreased tolerance for sounds, means that everyday noises can feel unusually loud, distracting or painful. Early in his 40+ year career, Dr. Bauman established a tinnitus and sound over-sensitivity clinic, developing proprietary treatment therapies that he teaches to both national and international practitioners. Due to his expertise and extensive experience, he is well-equipped to assist patients with sound sensitivities.
Types of Sound Sensitivities
Acoustic Shock: This condition results in symptoms of shock that continue after the sound has stopped. These symptoms include nausea, anxiety, depression, headaches and fatigue.
Hyperacusis: Often referred to as sound oversensitivity, this condition makes it difficult for individuals experiencing it to tolerate everyday sounds. Their condition includes a greater sensitivity to most sounds.
Phonophobia: Also known as a fear of sound, individuals experiencing this form of sound sensitivity have a great deal of anxiety or fear of being exposed to “too much sound,” which they perceive could be harmful.
Misophonia: People with this condition react to trigger sounds with annoyance or anger because their fight-or-flight response is activated. Misophonia is sometimes called Selective Sound Sensitivity Syndrome (4S).
AVI New England Provides Expert Treatment for Sound Sensitivity Challenges
Dr. Bauman’s extensive research and experience with sound sensitivity challenges is recognized by national and international experts who come to him for advice, consultation and training. AVI New England patients have direct access to the expert treatment available from Dr. Bauman and his team.
If you or a loved one is experiencing the symptoms associated with sound sensitivity, get the help you need from the expert that experts turn to for help.
