Are My Ears More Prone to Damage Now?

Since my tinnitus started 3 months ago, it just seems to keep slowly getting worse. Started with a 1 hour visit to a nightclub my sister pressured me into going to, even though I never liked loud noises. I thought it would be okay even though it was uncomfortably loud, and stayed because my sister kept telling me how happy she was I came with her. Everything I heard about nightclubs prior was they would only damage your hearing over many nights. Had tinnitus that night but it was gone in the morning. I only noticed the tinnitus again a week after the event and it was very subtle. It seems to be just getting worse since then.

I tried seeing 2 ENTs, 1 a week after and 1 a month after, and both told me nothing could be done and sent me away.

Never had tinnitus in my life before this at all, and it feels like a curse. Silence was one of my favorite experiences in life. It's never getting better and new tinnitus sounds just keep popping up as I get used to old ones. I still go to a bar every Friday that has previously tolerable music playing, but now I'm worried each time is damaging my ears more. This was never a problem before, but are my ears easier to damage now that they've been damaged already? Also kind of pissed I was never warned about loud music by anyone, even though apparently 10% of the population has tinnitus of some kind.

 

How vulnurable your ears are once tinnitus has started is impossible to know in advance, but you will know afterwards. That's why I prefer to play it safe. Avoid noisy enviroments, and wear earplugs. Make sure to insert them correctly:


For social occasions there are tailormade earplugs who are fairly discreet and allows you to hear and participate in conversation. If you move through load urban enviroments bose noise cancelling headphones can be an option as well. Finally, if your ears gets blasted by accident, it may be a good idea to have n-acetyl cysteine available. You can educate yourself about it by reading this thread:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/n-acetylcysteine-nac.395/

I got stucked with T because I visisted a gun shooting club. I thought it would be safe because they would only use airguns that evening. Needless to say, that evening changed my life for ever. Just like in your case, my T has gotten worse. Maybe because additional damage, maybe because my brain messes about on its own. No way to know. But my life will be a lot tougher from now on. It's the way of the world that some people get screwed due to bad luck. What to do? Be humble about it, take one day at the time, and await the slow process of partial habituation.

 

An ENT that I like, and a tinnitus / TRT specialist MD that I also like, both told me emphatically that my hearing is actually great and explicitly that I am no more likely to develop age-related hearing loss than anyone else is.

If that's really true, then the T probably makes me less likely to have that, because the measures I've taken over the years to protect my ears and not make the tinnitus worse, have no doubt gone a long way towards protecting the hearing that I've got.

 

Thanks, my hearing still seems pretty good though I never actually looked at my audio-gram when they did it, they just said it was normal. Seems slightly worse though from what memory tells me, hearing a couple small frequency gaps in white noise type sounds. I remember at work before this T started wearing ear protection headset and still hearing people clearly across the room. I'm still able to but the hissing adds a small challenge. My head feels funny sometimes because my brain can't match and localize the sounds my ears hear. Worried that because my ears were upset once, it's easier to repeat that damage.

I think I'm going to try ear plugs at the bar. Little worried about looking silly though, but at least I was never there to pick up dates. Shouldn't be hard to follow conversation. I don't think I could afford to ignore when my ears tell me something is too loud again.

Whenever I talked to my family about it they said they hear noises too and it's normal. Mom thought it was abnormal for me to say I used to hear nothing at all in my head, said she couldn't imagine what that's like. They don't really get why the sound stresses me out. They still try to help though.

I'm actually still holding onto hope that some kind of hair cell/nerve regeneration can restore my hearing to perfect and eliminate T, but I have a feeling it'll really only help extreme cases.

 

I got 40 years on ya. My T is cumulative. When it gets better and I get around loud music, it picks right up where it left off. Bass sounds go right through my head, plugs don't help that. I learned how to "get around" the sound of my T. Although it's not gone, I don't hear it most of the time.

 

I totally feel the same about the lack of information/prevention, or general carelessness when it comes to tinnitus. I guess 10% is not enough, or a lot of people get hearing loss but no tinnitus. Hearing loss usually only becomes apparent after years of abuse, and human beings generally aren't very good at understanding long term consequences.

I've got my tinnitus either by rehearsing with a loud band (while wearing earplugs!) or as a side-effect of dental surgery, and I have the exact same question as you. I proposed this question to a tinnitus team at a good hospital and I hope to get an answer during my next appointment on March 2nd. I'll let you know what they'll say.

Until then, just be careful. If people in this bar are raising their voices or leaning towards each other to talk, it's probably too loud already. Use earplugs in the way Vincent R suggests and they shouldn't be too visible. Or grow your hair out

 

I am gona start carrying a couple pairs of disposables from work for the bar i think. Just a bit scared of slightly loud noise though it was never a problem before. Luckily never had any hyperacusis. Only noticed mild persistant tinnitus the day after the bar a week after the club.

Would try growing my hair, too bad my hair only grows up and not down . Look forward to what the team says.