Women undergoing high levels of stress become more sensitive to sound states a study conducted by researchers from Karolinska Institute and Stockholm University's Stress Research Institute in Sweden.
Stress causes the body to act in weird ways. A new study shows a direct link between sound sensitivity and stress levels in women. According to a study conducted by researchers from Karolinska Institute and Stockholm University's Stress Research Institute in Sweden, women that are exposed to high levels of stress may perceive a sound that is normal in pitch as painful to their ears.
The study was conducted on 348 people, 208 were women. Test subjects were exposed to low, medium and high levels of social, mental and physical stress along with emotional exhaustion.
It was found that women who were exhausted after experiencing a high level of experimental induced physical stress had a higher sensitivity to sound.
"When you are hypersensitive to sound, some normal sounds, such as the rattle of cutlery or the sound of a car engine, can feel ear-piercing," said Dan Hasson, Associate Professor at Karolinska Institutet's Department of Physiology and Pharmacology and affiliated to Stockholm University's Stress Research Institute. "Given how common it is for people to work in environments with different kinds of disturbing sounds, this hypersensitivity can be really disabling for certain individuals."
A previous study showed that 32 percent of people working in Sweden reported suffering from cases of either impaired hearing or tinnitus or both. While stress and sound sensitivity can be linked, the mechanism that links the two are yet to be discovered and more studies need to be conducted on this subject.
"Serious forms of sound hypersensitivity can force people to isolate themselves and avoid potentially distressing situations and environments," Hasson said. "Our study indicates that exhaustion level and stress are additional factors that might have to be taken into account when diagnosing and treating hearing problems."
The findings were published in the online scientific journal PLoS ONE.
