Ear Pain, Tinnitus Increase, Over Noise That Shouldn't Cause a Problem — What to Do?

I've had T since I was 18 (28) now, and with an increase two some years ago, that was permanent and has caused me immense issues of ups and downs, and H, after this recent episode I really do not believe I've gotten any better, if this is in fact H.

For the last month my T was doing...decent I'll call it. My natural surroundings we're generally masking it. I could tolerate silent areas (pitch and tone we're not causing me immense grief even though it's not considered low by any means).

So, what occurs? I go get my haircut. The women talks very loud and her high pitch voice always bothers my ears a bit, but I deal with it. I even let her use a hairdryer a little. I know these short exposures, even with a temporary say mild discomfort to my ear, or a little elevation in perceived volume, are not life threatening to my ears. I've gone enough times and I know how my ear reacts.

So, this time after 2 years, she deciedes to use some other side burn machine that sounded like a diesel engine. No quiet hum of the other device, no, she pulls out something else and it's LOUD. My right ear tolerated it, with mild discomfort, but my left ear after about 10 seconds forced me to jerk away.

So, I leave and I go home. It seems a bit louder (T) but i ignore it and I don't let it affect me. Now, here's where it gets odd. Two days later, I'm in my room and a loud military jet flies over (windows open because airflow and no a.c). I put on 15db reduction earmuffs after I felt it was a bit to loud. I thought I was fine. Well, within a few hours later my ears are in pain. A soreness deep inside, sounds like H. Or, TTTS syndrome, some muscle constricting, who knows, maybe a combo of both. This was on last Saturday. I wake up sunday and my left pure tone, which is higher pitch is now LOUDER. My other tone in both ears, is now erratic sounding, like electrical missfiring and louder too. Ears are both sore, a deep ache type of feel.

I'm sitting on Thr. now, getting close to almost a week, and my left ear was actually very sore today and still loud.

Now, how the HELL can this happen? I'm doing fine for a month, I'm going out and being careful but still hearing a little traffic, going into store, not hearing T in car while driving. Now I hear it driving, now I hear it over ambient noises that used to mask and now I have off and on sore/pain in the ears.

How can this be? Could the military jet really have been so loud as to hurt my ears through the muffs? Seems unreasonable, even though it was quite loud in my room, I couldn't imagine it being more than 100 for very long. So, then if that wasn't it, how did the haircut 2 days earlier, cause this? Can delay reactions occur like this, perhaps the military plane was just a catalyst that tenses me up or pushed the H to a breaking point when I was already perhaps on edge from the haircut?

I honestly feel lost and I don't know what to do. My progress is gone that I had with my T, and now the pain is lasting a long time and I feel as if the things I was used to before (scanning sound at starbucks, pushing microwave buttons which give you a high pitch beep feedback) seem louder and a bit uncomfortable.

Something changed, and I don't know why, and I don't know what to do to even start addressing this. All I know is that I feel dead from this T increase and soreness. I hope to god an H issue, can aggravate your T and spike it, because I cannot fathom this being permanent tone.

 

Yes, delayed reaction can cause this. Many other H sufferers have mentioned this in dedicated H support groups/forums.

I was exposed to speakers last July, and though I felt pain for a few seconds after, it went away. I didn't get lasting pain until about a day after after. Then the pain worsened a week later in spite of my being extra careful, and it stayed the same way for the next two months.

It's been almost five months since then. I still have pain, but it improved. It's no longer 24/7, and no longer unbearable. If it stayed the same way, I would probably dead right now. I did try to commit suicide back then but I told myself to give it more time.

However, I'm not back to my baseline H. Before my setback, I would get instant pain from sounds I'm sensitive to, but no lasting pain. Lyrica helped take the eged off the pain but I stopped taking it because of the side effects.

 

Hmm tough one, im no expert, although it seems that if a few hours later the pain came and only after the military jet (assuming you can't think of anything else noisy that happened in between) , then perhaps it was the jet.

There are lists that include jets as one of the highest sounds on their decibel charts so I would not be suprised if it had something to do with it!

That said you wore protection which is a very smart move !

I would give it time and see if it all calms down.

I suffered from noise sensitivity for over a year until it calmed down a bit for me - something trivial as the ear needs lots and lots of time.

In the meantime try not to stress about it (as difficult as this is)!

 

What had caused that permanent increase?

 

Well, the catalyst was something I still can't believe, which was I awoke to a woodsaw being used. It literally woke me out of sleep. We lived in joint condo's, with combined entries with a small wall dividing it. The neighbor's worker put the saw right in the entry, so 10-11 feet from where my head is just inside the window, and fired it up to cut wood. There's no question that it was amplified by the echo chamber the condo makes by it's layout. I was exposed for maybe 10-15 seconds, jumping from bed and putting my hands over my ears waiting for it to end (which was a bad idea, I should of just opened my door and got out). When he stopped, I slammed my window shut, which are old metal brackets made a very, very loud sound too. I sometimes regret not taking legal action against him and/or the property manager. But I never imagined 2 years hitting and being still changed forever.

I didn't notice the increase/change until 2 days later, where I wen't to bed and it felt very loud. From that night onward, the last 2 years have been hell. Bad H, increases in T, tone changes, bad fleeting T (worse than ones prior to injury). Basically been a mess for 2 years.

I think I got genetically screwed with my ears. It only took one rave at 18 to get T, though 4/5 in level (I had a temp. threshold shift at the rave as well). I kept pretty quiet after that, thought I was ok, but loud cars, motorcycles, milt. jets, probably added up so that once that woodsaw wen't off combined with me slamming the window shut, something in my ear finally just gave out.

I also have perfect hearing in the normal ranges when I was tested year and half ago. Pretty sad.

 

I am sad and sorry that this had happened to you... Thank you for sharing. I remember reading another post where someone described getting a serious spike after not closing the windows when a neighbour decided to mow the lawn nearby.

I sincerely hope that eventually you will get to feel better.

 

15 dB is not a lot. I hope you consider getting 3M Peltor X5A muffs that provide at least 29 dB noise reduction...

 

A loud military jet can be extremely loud. 15db earmuffs do nothing to block that sort of sound. A fighter plane taking off can peak at over 140 dbs. You will feel the sound going through your body, the vibration and everything. If you were inside a car and the fighter passes over it, all the car vibrates.

https://sciencing.com/decibel-level-jet-plane-5375252.html

 

@shasta0863 I’m sorry this happened to you. I can relate to it.

I had it happen to me from sub 85db noise whilst wearing ear protection. I believe it is acoustic shock that has intensified the T and H.

New higher baseline, extreme reaction to sounds with ear/head/jaw pain, something tensing painfully in ear. Numbness on one side of head around affected ear. Lower hearing in high frequencies. Misfiring sounds. Low vibrating hum, worse ear pressure sensations, dizziness and balance issues. As a consequence broken sleep every night.

Whilst my baseline is still a bit higher now, T fluctuating/reacting more, it has improved and calmed down a lot within a few weeks. The high frequencies came back. Improving even after a second less severe occurrence.

Delayed reactions of a day or two are normal for me.

I’m finding magnesium seems to be helping me.