missmarch,

I don't understand why you were told to not use ear plugs, especially when out in noisy environments. Foam ear plugs or professional musicians ear plugs can do wonders. By reducing the backgrounds sounds, voices etc., the brain is able to better process the remaining sounds and not react to an over-stimulation.

They cannot cause damage to the eardrum if inserted gently. The eardrum is too far in for physical contact. The only risk is pushing them in forcefully and causing a moment of pressure against the ear drum. Pushing ear wax deeper into the canal can happen is some cases.

The concept of subjecting your ears and brain to the sounds as a step toward healing is controversial. Not many agree with that concept. Most suggest gently reintroducing loud sounds after the brain has had time to improve.

Please keep in mind that there are two hearing issues. Some react to the volume or intensity of sound or fast changes in sound volume no matter what that sound may be, a loud motorcycle, loud hand drier (Lowes has them, too) etc.

Others react to the sounds with a variety of different sounds, especially multiple voices or loud restaurant kitchen, loud dining room, background music, and voice. Echos can be a problem. I can hear echos that few others can hear. The healthy brain can filter out or reduce the volume of the sounds that are not part of your immediate environment so you can process and understand them.

Some tricks. If there are going to be multiple voices and sounds, try to stay at the perimeter of the room, near a wall or such. Corners of a room can be good. This reduces the variety of directions the sounds can come from.

When you are trying to think, reducing the variety of sounds can help. I used to be able to drive my truck, listen to the radio, have the air conditioning blasting and read a map at the same time. Now, if I want to read a map, I need to turn off the radio and air conditioning and sometimes pull to the side of the road and stop. With those noises reduced, my brain can finally focus to read a map. (Yeah, I'm old school. I like to understand the bigger picture rather than turn by turn from a GPS).

The explanation for this is we need to "Stop to think." Stop all the distractions so the brain can focus to think. If the brain is struggling with distracting noise, there is no way to over-ride this other than to reduce the distracting noise. Once the brain has had time to heal, these distractions can be slowly reintroduced. The reintroduction of sounds process may take 12 months.

I know this issue very well. My neuro did an Auditory Evoked Potential test and told me, without knowing my struggles with sounds, "You hear everything. How do you handle that ?" The VEP showed that my brain was letting every sound get past the sensory filtering process to the conscious mind and overwhelming it. He had never seen a patient with such sensitivity to sounds.

For me and many, this is the toughest part of recovery. Give it time and use the ear plugs so you can still try to be in noisier environments.

My best to you.