Kind of New to All of This, Please Advise

I went to a party almost two weeks ago and when I finally left I noticed huge ringing in my ears. It was incredibly loud and impossible to ignore. I went to an ENT 4 days later and did a hearing test, the results were not bad and not far off and he said no huge damage has been done and to give ears time to recover. Fast forward two weeks from the initial party, and the tinnitus has lessened a lot. I hope it gets better but I see progress. What really seems to bother me is that I have pain to even normal sounds. I believe this is hyperacusis. Now, here's the thing: I hear sharp ringing WHEN some noisy sound occurs. Lets say the water faucet is on, I hear sharp ringing in the background with the water. Heater is on full blast? Or a swirling fan is on? There's a sharp ring associated with it. There's a ring sound coming from the humming of my computer. Etc. When these things are turned off, the ringing stops. It seems like my ears cant handle certain sounds without making a ring, I'm guessing due to sensitivity of the sound. I don't know if this stems from tinnitus, hyperacusis, or something else. The sound doesn't seem like it comes internally, like tinnitus does, it feels like it comes from where the object is producing sound from. Thus I don't know if this stems from tinnitus or not.


It's been about two weeks now as mentioned, and the tinnitus I believe has gotten better, but the pain and ringing associated from noisy sounds are still pretty up there. I also must admit that I've been using ear plugs to go to sleep through the noisy heater in my apartment building because it's so noisy that I felt like it may make the T&H worse, but I recently came across that noisy things do not make T&H worse if the decibels are in line with being normal. Is this true?

Some questions:

Should I stop wearing ear plugs unless absolutely necessary? As mentioned I felt that since my ears are particularly sensitive that maybe even normal sounds can antagonize my ears and cause worse tinnitus, since it is still sensitive. Is this the wrong way to look at it?


Does anyone know what the ringing (that sounds external) with noisy objects is called? Is it T? H? Is it just ear sensitivity? Is this temporary?

Regardless of what the external ringing may stem from I believe the pain to sounds, along with ear fullness, is considered H. How often is this temporary? Are there statistics on how long it lasts, or how often it goes away?

Is it okay to still use earbuds and earphones, on low volume?

Thanks for any responses.

 

That's bad luck this had to happen to you. Im no expert but I get the same thing with my computer, my ears react to the fan whine and start to produce their own whine as well. Very strange. Yours sounds worse, reacting to a lot more sounds. AFAIK that's whats you say, hyperacusis and from what ive read, should go away in time.

The general advice seems to be that volume levels that wouldn't be considered dangerous for normal ears also apply to us t suffers (ie) its generally safe if the volume is 85 decibels and lower and if this does make your t react it should only be temporary reaction. I was in a normal domestic kitchen yesterday with a cooker and dishwasher on and my t was worse last night but the volume was less than 85 decibels in that kitchen, so it seems any noise can cause a reaction depending on the person but my t is back to pre-kitchen levels today.

I don't wear ear plugs except in our noisy shower but if I thought that wearing ear plugs all the time would increase my chance of a better outcome, I would do. But I just cant see it, I think even our ringing ears can handle everyday noises as long as they are not too loud. I don't think I have ever seen someone say my ENT advised me to wear ear plugs all the time after my loud noise event. If you find someone who did say that they maybe I might think again.

 

I've had T for 40 years. Loud music.
A few years ago I was stupid and spent only a short time around some very loud music again. To this day I still have the weird extra ringing and super sensitivity to things like birds, violins, whistles, you know, high pitched sounds. I'd recommend keeping earplugs handy in case you get in a loud situation. Thankfully after 2 years my T went back down. Then here on the forum I learned a technique that got rid of 99% of my T. It's a thread called Back To Silence.