Dogs and Their Barking

Do you think dog barking (high pitch) when next to you, could cause hearing damage? I guess it's around 90 dcb...

 

My dogs barks non stop. Sometimes agitates my t but nothing permanent for me. For most people it is probably not dangerous.

 

If a dog barked in my space, I'd spike for weeks. To me, that's damage. But my ears are trashed.

 

No. I don't think so. Maybe a temporary threshold shift, but it's such a short amount of time (what, 20 seconds?) that I don't think permanent damage would be done. You can always check with OSHA, I believe they have information how safe dB levels and how long you can be in what levels for what amount of time. If not OSHA definitely ASHA!

 

A 90 decibel spike will not cause damage to your auditory structures. Being exposed to it for 4-5 hours straight might induce a small TTS. I used to worry about dogs barking. I decided I would stop worrying about it, and that was just another step towards my recovery.

 

Yes somebody got t due to his dog barking but his dog barked right beside his ears.

 

A dog just barked next to me. maybe 1 metre distance. now my T is louder. but I have reactive T. it might not be permanent. this bark was high pitch and maybe 95 db.
but the main problem is that the anxiety is so fucking high.

 

As of late my boss often brings his dog into the office, like once a week, while before it was like once a month or even less. And it's really starting to get to me. Every time someone comes through the dog or ring the bell the dog goes insane and start barking loudly like mad and running around the room. Others find it cute but I find it difficult to deal with. Imagine having to concentrate on a problem and then being scared by 100dB barking constantly.

 

*cough*

http://www.amazon.com/Acu-Life-Impa...121_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0AMXXCG8RYAEAWGPNH1G

 

This is a quiet office in which I also need to communicate often to others. So while ear plugs surely help it is not ideal. For example today is the third time in a row that the dog has come to the office and I am losing patience. It's made my coming to work very stressful and I'm seriously considering quitting and trying to find something else. It's either this or being assaulted by dog barking every day while trying to concentrate on work. Money is just not worth being stressed for 8 hours every day never knowing there the noise assault might happen.

Anyone has any experiences similar to this? It just seems very inconsiderate to me to be doing this.

 

If you were to look into the product, at least, you will find these are no ordinary plugs but they have a bypass valve so you can hear everything round you. The plugs just shut when there is impulse noise to protect your ears. Just look at some of the reviews...
Just a mere suggestion for a possible solution to your problem. At least *try*

 

They do sound useful but seems to me like they are meant for the real high level sound like shooting not so much the dogs barking. Also I wouldn't want to ear them all the time as I find ear plugs quite uncomfortable and obviously I can also hear my T much more.

I'll give it till the end of the month since I'm leaving on vacation in June and after that I'll confront the boss about the situation and if there will be no change I'll start looking for some other work. It's a shame because I really like working here and the team is great. But I didn't sign up to work in a dog kennel, which I'm sure is fun work but not with my condition.

 

Good man, open communication will hopefully improve your working conditions there. I would not confront your boss, but explain your ear issues and that you have extremely sensitive hearing. some dog owners can be super protective of their pet, so choose good wording there.
The plugs might help you with some of the impulse sounds you encounter on your bike f. Ex. Maybe just give it a go and see how it works out for you? They are cheap anyways so it's not that you would waste a fortune if they are not working out.
Enjoy the holidays!

 

Yeah that's what I'm afraid of, that he'll take offense at my suggestion to take bring the dog in anymore. Because I've been here for 4 years now and it never was a problem, only recently a couple of months ago did he start to bring it in a few times a week and lately almost daily.

 

Well, worst case you can always say you have a real bad dog allergy or something ;-)

Prepare your talk well, say that you love your job and that the dog is cute and all that, but that it is affecting your health and that you are looking to work on a good solution.. Most people will react positively if you do not confront them head-on. Engage your boss in the process and make a connection with him/her.
Plenty of stuff on the internet on how to present a problem to your boss..

 

I think the bosses already know I have an ear problem, since I've explained it to them a couple of times when there was a loud office party coming up that I couldn't take part in.

 

I've made a short clip of what is sounds like, the microphone isn't the best unfortunately but you get the idea, I've left some normal office noise at the beginning.



It's a small dog with a very high pitched shrieking bark. And it's a very quiet office, background noise is usually 40dB give or take.

 

Dog barking is in the 70-110 db range, I'd be shocked if it ever got much higher than that. Unless you happen to be right next to the dog's mouth, exposure is probably 95-100. That's not a great thing to expose yourself to on a continuous basis, but it's also not any louder than thunder, or shutting a car door.

 

True, a few barks here and there probably is nothing. But being exposed to it for 8 hours every few minutes is probably not a good thing. Plus the anticipation means that my productivity is now at an all time low. So if I don't quit myself I'm sure they'll fire me anyway since I am unable to concentrate anymore and can't do any actual work.

 

This sounds like catastrophic thinking, which is an easy thought distortion to fall into when we're stressed out. I bet there's a reasonable solution!

The situation you're in is not entirely dissimilar to someone who's allergic to dogs, as was mentioned above -- a routine stimulus that many people can tolerate, is intolerable. I work in an office with a very liberal dog policy, and I like having them around, but if one of them was barking continuously I would absolutely complain about it, for any number of reasons.

 

So rude of him then. Sorry.

 

To be honest I don't think he realizes that it might be loud or disruptive to others, probably having a dog kind of makes you numb to the constant barking. And they've otherwise been kind to my problems like letting me not attend the office parties with music and such. But a dog is such a personal thing to them that I've been afraid to really say anything and of course it's only been an issue the past few months since before the dog was only there once a month or even less.

 

I have 6 dogs. 3 inside. 3 out. I have kicked two out of my room. They are all on my nerves. Tears.

 

Thanks for pointing me here!

I'm also suffering BAD from this AWFUL old woman who is threatening the association that if they do anything she will move forward with harassment lawsuit!

I've had mild T for like 7 years before last year in June a brief exposure to a wood saw right outside my window which I awoke to, caused my T to get worse permanently ( I assume since I'm coming up to a year soon and it's not pre-injury sounding). H is worse as well.

So, we're in a town-home and share a wall. Our entry way is only divided by a 5-6ft. wall in middle. I literally look out and see her entire entry way, so that's how close.

When I started to move into this place initially I was having some progress with T being a bit better. After month and half living here that dissipated. Why? The dog barking is my belief. For first month and half I got awoken in morning to her leaving with dog, hands full and the dog FLIPPING out. An ugly, rat looking dog with the HIGHEST pitch I've ever heard. It wails and goes into a frenzy where each spasm get's higher, higher and higher in pitch until it restarts.

I've awoken to this, been hit during mid day and I constantly have to close my window. I HAVE to have it open for airflow. No townhomes here have air! We use the breeze of the ocean.

She doesn't care and because of her law friends and field, she quotes she's not breaking the "time" level a dog barking past that is illegal. So because it doesn't bark for hour straight, and instead just barks in 30-5min increments all through out day, I can do nothing.

I was so upset recently when she came out and the dog flipped out. 9pm trying to get some air, window wide open. It STUNS me and scares me and my ears flip out. I kicked my trashcan in anger and right after my ear wen't full w/ high pitch that faded over time. Typical fleeting T but I've never CAUSED fleeting T before, mines always been random...first time I actually triggered one!

The damn thing goes off at like 85-98db when I'm in entryway. She has the audacity to claim I'm just SENSITIVE to noise and me trying to get her to at least train it to not flip out is causing her emotional distress!!

GOD I hate this world!

/end rant!

 

Ask your boss if he can keep that little yapper quiet because people are trying to work. Tell him people thought it was cute for the first 5 min, now it's just annoying the piss out of everyone, not to mention killing employee productivity. Tell him that you have real business to attend to, and that this is no walk in the dog the park, this is the real world. That would be my approach.

 

This is the truth. He didn't bring it yesterday and I felt a bit relieved but today it's here again and I'm stressed again waiting for the barking to start again. Every time he starts I lose my thoughts and get this knot in my stomach. Basically it's going to be a high stress low productivity day again.

But I've already decided I'll confront him about it after my vacation. No point in working here if every day is a chore.

 

I would also be angry if I had a barking dog for a neighbor. Noise is noise, doesn't matter where it's coming from. If you started yelling randomly every few minutes and even at night I'm sure sooner or later someone would get annoyed but because it's just a dog it's okay it seems.

 

I've written a thoughtful email that I'm going to send today, can't wait anymore, today has been horrible, the dog has been yapping all day when people have been coming in. Even though I've been wearing these in ear buds they seem to do little to reduce the noise, it's so loud and piercing. I've also accepted the fact that I may have to find work elsewhere but to be honest it's a small price to pay to be away from this constant barking. I've had enough.

 

Sent them the email, now we wait. I've really tried to nicely explain about my issues and how the barking is negatively affecting me. But to not sound like a rant I've also mentioned that's it either the dog or me, in a nice kind of way. So have to prepare for them choosing the dog. If that happens I'll probably take and extended vacation before trying to find another job.

 

Exactly. Today I was in backyard and all the backyards are connected with just little walls between each area, and the dog runs up like 10 feet from me as I'm watering plants barks 4-5 times, extremely high pitched. I've never been that close before and now I'm suffering. I'm trying to tell myself it didn't damage me, but it's hard when my right ear instantly became full feeling (I guess the muscle inside the ear tighten up) and my T pitch is higher. So now I get to suffer and be upset and HOPE this is temporary? This is bull shit.

I was upstairs last week at the window, down below some 15 feet it went off and I recorded it at about 92db. So I can only imagine since I was closer to it this time in the back it was 95-100 if that. That can't be good for ears already trashed and damage.

I'm going to sue her over the mental and physical stress this is bringing me. Nothing else I can do, city doesn't care.