Balloon Popped Next to Me — Will My Tinnitus Get Worse?

Today I was in a restaurant and there was this kid behind me and he popped a balloon 1 meter from me.

Of course just that time I did not wear my ear plugs, it seemed very loud with my hyperacusis, it scared the shit out of me. I was so pissed off I immediately left the restaurant, did not even finish my meal.

Now it seems my tinnitus is a bit louder, it was just getting lower this week!

Will it go down again or am I screwed now?

 

It will, and tbh, if you have managed to protect your ears since you had the tinnitus (assuming that yours was noise induced), they have recovered pretty well already so it's very unlikely that you got damage that would worsen it.

And you tinnitus most likely only feels louder now because you are fearing for the worst and your stress/anxiety levels burst off the charts...

 

Agree with the above. Balloon pop shouldn't do hearing damage. So it should not have lasting effect on your tinnitus. Try to relax and give it a week or two to see if your tinnitus will return to baseline. Just don't stress out because this will aggravate your tinnitus. Take care.

 

I had a gun discharged at about a meter from my ears in an enclosed space, now that was probably 150 dB.

A balloon, while probably loud and uncomfortable, will not come close to that noise level. Unless you have bad hyperacusis, it will not have consequences.

Don't be so harsh on kids, they just do stupid stuff. I've seen adults do much worse..
All this self-victimising leads to nowhere as well. The universe is massively disinterested in our personal suffering.

 

Hey guys, it's been a while since I've posted here as things have been good, however I think I might have suffered a big setback 3 days ago.

I was at work (I work as a medical receptionist) and a kid ruptured a balloon about two to three meters away from me, it was like unbelievably loud, like holy moly have not heard something like that in a long time.

Anyway I was wearing custom vented ear plugs at the time that were rated for 15 dB just by chance because one of the other kids in the waiting room had been screaming. The plugs are rated for 15 dB but they don't fit great so it was probably more like 10 dB.

Also where the kid popped the balloon there was a small half wall as the kids' table is right next to the receptionist's cubicle which is also why I didn't see him with the balloon.

Would I be at risk for hearing damage? I've taken some Prednisone as this is the first time in a long time I've actually felt like I might be at actual risk for hearing damage as I know a balloon pop at 2 meter is like 145 dB.

 

Try not to worry. I’ve had a few balloons pop near me since 2015 plus I’ve had my daughter screaming non-stop since the age of about one and I can honestly say she has the loudest scream I’ve ever heard. She has done this close to my ear on some occasions which is really scary, but thankfully, nothing has ever come of it in my case.

I think the risk of damage from a balloon pop is significantly higher when in an enclosed space, so what you described doesn’t sound too bad, especially considering you had some protection as well.

It’s really easy to allow your thoughts to run way with themselves following a situation like this, so you must try not to get worked up over it. Adding stress, as you know, is not going to help you even though I know how hard it is to control our emotions after such events.

 

I have a few spikes from time to time, but not always when I expect.

I had a bus blast its horn as I was walking past it (not at me!) whilst my hyperacusis was at its worst. It felt painful at the time, but I was absolutely fine.

 

How did it go with the spike? Did it come down? Same thing happened to me today.