Please Support Our Efforts to Find a #Cure4Cindy!

“When I hear a noise, I feel like I’m being stabbed in the ear.” – Cindy Redmond, 14

Cindy was at a friend’s house, chatting on her phone at the kitchen table.  Her friend’s stepfather wanted her off the phone, so he blasted her with an air horn. Cindy felt a burst of pain in her ears.

Within days, she perceived sounds as amplified and painful. She could no longer attend school, where the schoolday noises were too loud for her. Cindy was unable to start ninth grade at Brandywine High School with her friends, and instead attends school online.

Cindy now suffers from hyperacusis, or noise-induced pain. All but the mildest noise feels like a knife stabbing her ear.

 

Cindy was on the TODAY Show!


No available treatment has helped Cindy, and there is no cure.


She copes as best she can with earplugs and earmuffs, which keep the pain from worsening but make it hard to hear and communicate. She misses seeing friends and eating out with her mom, Laurie.

Please help Cindy live a normal life, free from noise-induced pain. Share Cindy’s story and let’s find a #Cure4Cindy!

“Hyperacusis with pain feels like molten lava in the ear canal or ice picks stabbing the eardrum. The sensation lingers indefinitely after the sound is gone. Hyperacusis is poorly understood and not widely recognized. We are working toward understanding the chemical signaling pathways used by nerve fibers in the inner ear.”  — M. Charles Liberman, Professor of Otology, Harvard Medical School


Read more about Cindy here and please share:

People magazine

Daily Mail

Delaware News Journal

Each $30,000 raised will fund one grant into research for noise-induced pain. As an alternative to donating online, you may send a check to:

Hyperacusis Research
P.O. Box 1295
Marlboro, MA 01752

Media contact: [email protected]

About Hyperacusis

Hyperacusis with pain, sometimes called noise-induced pain, is a new branch in the field of auditory pathology.

The primary cause is noise overexposure. An acoustic trauma, or noise injury, can result from one loud noise (airhorn, whistle, gunshot) or from constant exposure over time (concerts, headphones, power tools).

Other causes are head or neck injuries, ototoxic drugs and some diseases, including Lyme disease.

Though noise overexposure usually causes hearing loss, in some cases it does the opposite, making noise seem too loud rather than too soft.

Hyperacusis is often accompanied by tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, and a pressure feeling called aural fullness, along with burning ear pain.

The condition sometimes improves — but it readily recurs from a noise as ordinary as a passing siren, a barking dog or even a clanking dish.

Cindy says, “Everything sounds louder and is painful in my ears. We need a cure for hyperacusis so people like me can live a normal life.”

Share Cindy’s story with your network via e-mail and social media. The hashtag is #Cure4Cindy.

Follow Cindy on Facebook.com/Cure4Cindy and on Twitter at @Cure4Cindy.

Thank you for your support!

 

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This