I'm Phonophobic

@Ed209 You know the feeling is mutual and I respect your wisdom and how caring you are x

 

Advocating or discouraging a lifestyle choice can be tantamount to religion, like debating vegetarianism or home-schooling.

 

Physicals can mess with confidence, hearing and exposure to sound. This is well documented within somatic physical tinnitus condition as I mentioned in a post above. I talk to many by PM and today I received a message of concern from one. Because of this, I think this thread isn't helpful to this person and may be why no response. I'm aware of this person's physicals. I wish that some would research physical tinnitus conditions that may have overlay association with other types of tinnitus before making generalized statements about appropriate sound levels.

 

I agree with your general arguments.

However I got a bad spike after a weekend when I mowed and strimmed our small back lawn (wearing 32db earplugs and earmuffs), went to a friend's house for lunch, then spent about 20 minutes listening to some soft rock music at moderate volume. So which of these activities should I stop doing?

As you say, everyone is different. We have to try and get the right balance between necessary self-protection, and excessive phonophobia.

 

One good thing that's come out of it is that I'm now getting my son and wife to do the mowing and strimming, which I think is generally quite a bit louder than a hoover. I could probably do hoovering, with suitable protection, if I had to.

 

Can I please have the jaw clenching notes please