Does Car Door Slams Bother Anyone?

this is the problem and driver of the anxiety. we know debilitating T is awful, but how I am dealing with it is also severely debilitating and fear based, rather than rational.

 

1000 positive experiences don't prove that an activity is safe. One negative experience proves that an activity is unsafe.

As I wrote earlier, it all boils down to probability of getting hurt. You think it is negligible. Given experiences reported here and my own experiences (e.g., plates clanking near my bad ear resulted in a new T sound in a formerly healthy ear) my guess=estimate of this probability is 5%-10%. This is completely subjective. I believe that the probability must be more than 1%. Tomorrow, unless I forget, I will try to find a thread where I used stats to find a 95% confidence interval for this probability.

If the probability of a horrific life-changing injury is 1%, and it is so easy to reduce this probability, I enjoy doing what I can to reduce it.

Ed, have you read my message? I said that those doctors are basing their advice on published research. We know that doesn't exist when it comes to causes of T and H spikes. I am just learning from the lessons that others share on this forum.

Traffic laws are written in blood (of all of the victims who had to die before people decided to establish a law in an attempt to prevent more carnage). So are my posts

 

A car door can be closed without any loud noise : it can be just a very soft "click". Just push or pull until it closes. You don't need to slam it and the people around you don't either. Just tell them it makes you uncomfortable or get in the car after everyone.

Also, a high-end car generally has heavy doors that make a muffled noise even if you slam it and that are very easy to close quietly anyway.

I'm sorry but for people with H, those noises (among hundreds of other noises) are the ones which make everyday a struggle. Can we just keep to the facts, give practical answers and avoid the "overprotecting" debate here ?

 

I shouldnt panic on hearing a siren whilst in the office or at home, but I do. I worry about damage and panic for hours, or days. And I try and get reassurance from everyone and this cycle is miserable and unhealthy.

 

Drs base their knowledge on patient data, not just research. Anyway, I’ve said my piece which was largely driven by the amount of messages I’ve been receiving from various people. The irony here is that I’d be gone by now, but I’ve hung around to try and help these people, but you keep inflaming the situation.

I’ll now stop posting on the issue because we won’t get anywhere.

 

Just close your ears with your fingers?

 

It is also a forum for sharing practical information.

I was caught by fireworks at the end of November, a Tuesday evening about 6 p.m, when I was outside a grocery shop and on my way home. If I had followed the advice of medical professionals, I would have taken it flatfooted. Instead, I carried foam earplugs and a sturdy couple of Peltor Optime III earmuffs. Adopting an unrational and unhealthy behavior worked out just fine.

People will have to decide for themselves how far they want to take things.

EDIT: Ed, I understand that you mean well, but you tend to look at this as a mental thing. It can be. But there's also a practical side. Those who wish to safeguard themselves against bad luck will have to take measures.

 

That I agree with. I think everybody on this forum should read: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-many-recover-3-studies.21441/ and https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/a-collection-of-success-stories-from-around-the-web.24122/

I can vouch for that one too. I was told so at an ENT clinic that safety earmuffs are probably the best option.

I plan on slowly decreasing my hearing protection and get my ears used to the natural sounds again. Now I ordered -32 dB NRR earnuffs, I'll proly get the Clear Armror 14001 for flying and in time I want only - 21 dB NRR earmuffs and even later just the invisible - 11 dB NRR earplugs (as stated in 3M instructions on Tinnitus). All this within a year.

Bill's a stats guy by default.

I am one out of many examples. It wasn't permanent though. Thank god.

I have to disagree with that statement. I lived in London for quite a while and it's a pretty noisy place to live in. Trust me on that. There are even adverts in tube lines saying how noisy and unhealthy living in certain areas of London is. London underground being a prime example.

and @Bill Bauer , thanks for the links and data. I'll check them out in the evening when I have more time.

 

Yes, people will have to decide, that's why Ed is giving critique, so they can.
I for one, developed H because of overprotecting, and sometimes act like a lunatic whenever something "loud" happens, ask my girlfriend, she'll tell you how great that is.
Ofcourse dealing with severe T is hell, but there has to be a middle ground.

 

Agree with this!

 

And that’s exactly it. There’s a big difference between protecting your ears against dangerous noise, and double protecting against noises outside your house. Unfortunately, that is the side of the line a lot of people are finding themselves on. That’s when it becomes a legimate fear of sound itself and I’m just trying to re-address the balance and add a bit of rationality.

 

It is. It’s both mental and physical, but most people neglect the delicate mental side.

Anyway, I know I’ve already said it, but this will be my last post. I’ve really got to get back to my life again as TT tends to take over. I’ll probably drop by at some point in the future, but if I don’t see any of you again, I wish you all well on the road to recovery.

 

Great illustration!

I’ll miss your sanity and voice of both reason and experience but wish you well!

 

I don't recall reading or writing any thread advising the above.

 

Well this all was a little off topic but anyway

 

it feels like a loud vibration, old car metalish sound...

 

People for whom it is a mental thing tend to think it's a mental thing for everyone. And to be fair, for the majority of new sufferers that come here, it is a mostly a mental thing. There are a few unlucky ones with a real collapse in noise tolerance that have to be much more careful than the average person when around loud noise.

That being said, I think plugging you ears every time the car door slams is a bit excessive. Instantaneous (impulse) noises have to be pretty loud to cause damage, and there is a big difference between an impulse sound and a sound that lasts even for a few seconds.

 

Can aggrevate your tinnitus, therefore it is not good and a protection should be used.

 

I don't think you follow what I'm getting at. There is a time weighted average regarding exposure to sound, and impulse noises are instantaneous. A firecracker going off nearby or a gun shot can be extremely loud and can absolutely cause permanent damage. A door shutting or dropping a plate on the floor isn't anywhere near that volume (we are talking like at lest 16 times as loud for firecrackers and gunshots). Now while a door slamming at 90-95 isn't going to be damaging, listening to a constant 95 decibels without protection is probably a bad idea for someone with tinnitus.

 

I see your point. However, in the chart I posted earlier in this thread it says that "banging car door at 1 m distance (maximum level) - 105 dB". Imo that's a loud enough impulse sound to cause a bad tinnitus spike.

 

My best guess is that you're right. But dealing with the sound, i.e. wearing ear plugs, may be a lot easier than undergoing therapy, find a new perspective in life, using medication etc. etc.

I mostly advocate hearing protection in everyday environments as a measure against more severe noise incidents. I think T sufferers should be given that advice from medical professionals, at least for consideration.