Acoustic Trauma from Shooting a Shotgun Once without Any Hearing Protection

Hello. It has been a little over 3 months after my acoustic trauma from shooting a 12-gauge shotgun once without any hearing protection and being nearby when a few shots were fired by my friends.

Was it a big mistake to not get on Prednisolone after that? Since my tinnitus and muffled hearing onset was 2 weeks after the incident and I didn’t know about all that stuff, I didn’t get on it.

Today my hearing seems to be okay, maybe little muffled from time to time, and tinnitus is not really bothersome since I pretty much can hear it only in silence.

 

I think you are past the window for Prednisone at this point.

Have you had an audiogram to check your hearing? Or visited an ENT for the muffled hearing?

It seems your tinnitus is not bothering you and you can only hear it in quiet. I suggest to keep your ears away from shotguns/headphones/loud noise in general as not to make the mild tinnitus into a more intrusive one.

Tinnitus can generally fade over time, just let the ears rest and you should be OK in the future.

 

That's interesting how in those two weeks your ears were completely fine and only after two weeks you started experiencing symptoms? It is true that people do sometimes get delayed onset of tinnitus, but as far as muffled hearing goes, I always thought that should be instant.

As for Prednisone, based on my reading on Tinnitus Talk, it's a gamble at best and it certainly doesn't seem to have cured anybody, not definitively anyways.

You're lucky that your tinnitus is only mild from such an incident, had that happen to me for example, I'm sure the results would have been catastrophic, so keep your hearing safe from now on and your tinnitus might go away with time!

 

@Strawberryblonde, I did visit an ENT. He did not find anything wrong and told me to rest my ears for a while. I will try to get an audiogram done soon.

@Eric N, yeah, it's really weird that I was totally fine after the incident and the symptoms appeared 2 weeks after.

I'm trying my best to protect my hearing from loud noises and hopefully I will get rid of the muffled hearing and tinnitus completely

 

I agree with @Strawberryblonde, make an appointment to see an ENT doctor regarding your muffled hearing. It would appear that you have been fortunate and the tinnitus will probably go away with time. Obviously you don't want this to happen again, so I advise you to follow some of my suggestions and the advice of people on this forum that have noise-induced tinnitus.

Try not to forget wearing hearing protection in future when firing a gun or when exposed to overly loud noise. Please note, even when wearing the best type of hearing protection, there is no guarantee that your auditory system will not be affected by loud noise. If external sound is loud enough, it can pass through the head and transfer to the inner ear by bone conduction. If a person already has tinnitus, there is a risk of it spiking. If one is fortunate, the spike might reduce or if they are less fortunate, it could increase the tinnitus to a new permanent level.

If the person doesn't have tinnitus, there is a risk of it developing especially if they are repeatedly exposed to loud noise. The belief wearing hearing protection will always protect you is not necessarily true. It is probably a good idea not to fire a gun even with hearing protection for at least three months, or until your tinnitus completely goes away. I am just giving you approximations here. Although your tinnitus is very low at the moment, you don't want to risk it increasing and it can if you're not careful.

I also advise you not to listen to audio through any type of headphones including: earbuds, headsets, AirPods, even at low volume. Wait until the tinnitus goes completely away before using these devices. Headphone use is one of the most common causes of tinnitus, due to listening to audio at too high a volume without realizing it.

Please click on the link below and read my post that you might find helpful.

I wish you well,
Michael

New to Tinnitus, What to Do? | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum

 

It won't help the muffled hearing but an audiogram can at least determine if the shotgun gave you any hearing loss.

 

Something very similar happened to me. It has now been nearly 6 months. The tinnitus in my left ear (the only one affected) is getting slightly better. It mostly only bothers me at night. I had an audiogram done and there was a slight loss (20 dB at 8 kHz). I tried listening to different frequencies on YouTube and it's clear that I pretty much lost any hearing on my left ear above 9 kHz while on my right ear I can hear 12 kHz, no problem. So, I think that even if an audiogram is ok, tinnitus can still be intrusive because your brain is compensating for the lost hair cells that pick up the high frequency sound. I'm hoping that in anther 12 months my tinnitus will be so low I don't notice it anymore. No more shooting ever, no loud anything. I'm just trying not to be paranoid and act normal around everyday sounds.

 

After hair cells or ribbon synapses have been shocked with damage, it can take weeks before they die.

This is the reason why Prednisone must be taken as early as possible as it "can" prevent cell/neuron death, limiting the damage that is "about to happen."

You're not the only one who was ignorant of this last chance drug. That said; the results from taking it have been very mixed.

 

I was also initially kicking myself for not taking oral Prednisone 3.5 weeks after trauma and injections about 4 weeks after trauma. But then I was probably right not to.

Talking to some smart people (researchers), the efficacy of Prednisone for NIHL is very questionable. Use is "off-label". And many people reported it made things worse. If it was indeed within few days after trauma, then I think it is worth a shot. Any later, probably not worth the risk.

Just what I learned, take for what it is worth.