Originally Published at S W Florida Health and Wellness Magazine
Hyperacusis, or noise intolerance, is a condition in which patients have a reduced tolerance and increased sensitivity to everyday sounds in the normal environment. People who suffer from Hyperacusis describe their lives as living in a world where the volume seems to be turned up too high.
In 2010, Dr. Herbert Silverstein, of the Silverstein Institute in Sarasota, Florida, encountered a patient with hyperacusis after a head injury. He performed a minimally invasive round and oval window reinforcement surgical procedure, which greatly reduced the patient’s sound sensitivity. A few years later, when another patient complained of noise intolerance, Dr. Silverstein tried the same procedure to see if it would help. When it did, he knew this treatment option needed further study to determine the efficacy in a larger population.
Since the fall of 2014, Dr. Silverstein and his team have been conducting a research study for the minimally invasive round and oval window reinforcement surgical treatment of severe Hyperacusis. The preliminary results have been very positive. Dr. Silverstein’s procedure continues to improve during the study. Results have been very good with most patients. Initially, there was a 55% noted improvement; however, today with increased tissue, 85% noted improvement. People, when treated with this minimally invasive surgery are back to normal activities and they find, with reduced noise trauma, are not as anxious or sensitive to the sounds around them.
“It is very gratifying to help patients with hyperacusis using this procedure, which dampens the sound waves to improve the patient’s tolerance for noise,” Dr. Herbert Silverstein has stated.
Three clinical papers about hyperacusis have now been published in prominent medical journals and Dr. Silverstein has spoken nationally regarding the results.
Herbert Silverstein, MD, FACS
President and Founder of the Silverstein Institute and the Ear Research Foundation has consistently been recognized (since 1979) as one of the “Best Physicians in the USA.” He has been a leader in Otology/Neurotology (the science of the ear and skull base) for more than 40 years, developing surgical and diagnostic procedures, inventing instruments (such as the facial nerve monitor/stimulator), teaching medical students, residents, and fellows, and helping people improve their quality of life. Born in Philadelphia, Dr. Silverstein received his BS degree from Dickinson College (cum laude), and both MS (in physiology) and MD degrees from Temple University Medical School. He completed a residency in otolaryngology at Harvard Mass Eye & Ear infirmary in 1966. Before coming to Sarasota in 1973, he served on the teaching staff of Harvard University Medical School, Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary, as director of the Walker Biochemistry Research Laboratory, and as associate professor and director of the Otological Research Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. He was elected to Who’ Who in America in 2019.