Exposed to Fire Alarm — Hearing a Lingering Siren Sound Hours Later?

Hello everyone,

I'm sure most of you know my story by now - I have unilateral tinnitus caused by an ear infection.

After one year of tinnitus things have stabilised tremendously, but I'm making this thread to ask for help about a symptom I'm experiencing because it's causing me immense anxiety - this morning I was exposed to a fire alarm in my apartment and rushed out as quickly as I could.

Everything was seemingly fine, so I continued with my day but in the evening I was in my room and noticed I was still hearing the faint sound of the fire alarm. It was so faint I thought it was coming from outside but it's persisted for hours now.

Now if I focus in silence I can still hear the sound of the siren faintly and I'm terrified I'll be stuck with this. Could someone help me, please?

 

Hi Kuromi,

It is called Palinacousis I believe. I had this when I first got tinnitus and it eventually did go away after a few months as my tinnitus got more stable.

Unfortunately not too much is known about it although you most certainly can find relatable experiences on the forum.

 

Hi Kuromi,

The siren you faintly hear, should eventually go away.

I have something like this, and it was pretty bad during my onset. If I heard a certain noise like a car horn, my tinnitus would mimic the sound of the horn and that would linger for hours. It eventually does go away, so it should be the same for you. You may want to look up palinacousis. It may not apply to you, but it’s the closest thing I would associate with my experience.

This symptom has diminished to a greater extent now and by that I mean it occurs less(no more mimicry from car horns) and it doesn’t last that long. The only noise I’m aware that will still trigger this is from a nearby leaf blower being used. The mimicry will last for 15-30 mins now. It’s still a recurring thing, but to a lesser extent.

It sure is a strange symptom and I’m perplexed by the nature of it. It should leave eventually for you based on my experience along with others who have also experienced it (Matchbox). I think in his case it could last much longer. We actually talked about it recently in one his threads.

Hope this helps.

 

It could be just worsening tinnitus budding but it can go into remission.

 

I believe I too have experienced something similar. At work there are some kind of distant machinery that gives off a very low frequency sound on low volume(but still just barely audible through my plugs), and sometimes I still hear that sound even when I get home.

I think you'll be fine.

 

Hi @kuromi.

I have perused some of your previous posts to get a full understanding of your tinnitus and hopefully, advise you on what I believe to be the best way forward.

Ear infections can cause tinnitus and are notorious for making it linger on for weeks, sometimes months after the infection has cleared up. Fortunately the tinnitus has reduced to relatively low levels for most of the time and you have been able to get along with your life.

Try to avoid being in a quiet room for long periods, as this allows the brain to focus on internal sounds within the body which happens to be a noisy place and will pay particular attention to the auditory system. If there are remnants of tinnitus at ultra low levels, it will seek it out and bring it to the forefront of your mind so you become aware of it. This is the reason many audiologists and hearing therapists advise tinnitus patients to place a sound machine by the bedside at night for sound enrichment and not to sleep in a quiet room.

Any anxiety the tinnitus is causing you should start to decrease the less attention you give to it. I know this is not easy but by using sound enrichment in time things will get easier. The idea is to use low level sound enrichment, this doesn't mean trying to mask the tinnitus or surrounding yourself with sound 24/7. If you use any type of headphones to listen to music I would prefer that you don't use them. However, since your tinnitus low if want to use headphones then listen at the lowest possible level and not for too long a duration.

Please click on the links below and read my posts. More information is given on how to use sound enrichment and habituating to tinnitus. If you are able to print them I advise that you do and refer to them often. This will help to reinforce positive thinking because tinnitus is mostly mental. I do not mean its intensity can be controlled by mere thought. It is an integral part of our mental and emotional wellbeing and cannot separated from it. By incorporating positivity into your life and focusing on the things you like to do, tinnitus is slowly pushed further into the background of the mind.

Take care.
Michael

New to Tinnitus, What to Do? | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum
Acquiring a Positive Mindset | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum

 

Mine used to mimic the sound of my Mac Pro fan. It stopped after a month or so.

 

Did it go away?

 

Could be some type of earworm. When you're exposed to a certain sound for a shorter or longer period, your brain can actually start playing that sound inside your head. I've had this several times where I would hear a certain sound and my brain just got fixated on the sound, and when I moved away from the source of that sound my brain would still play that very same sound inside my head thinking I had some new tinnitus. This can happen with music as well where a certain song/melody can get stuck inside of your head long after you heard it.

I think people with tinnitus are more prone to this because we live in a constant fear of sounds and worsening our tinnitus. So when we hear something we take it as a threat, even if the actual sound has a real source. Our brain gets fixated on the sound as if it's a threat, and then it just starts repeating inside of our head.

 

Yeah I had this the other day, some annoying sound was happening on the bus and I was still hearing it later that night.

 

Hello @Saif, apologies for the late response, I've been exceptionally busy recently - yes, this issue subsided with time. In case anyone else was wondering, I'm still sustaining my current baseline, and would still call myself habituated.

My love to you all,
Kuromi.

 

Mind if I ask you, was your fan also creating phantom sounds too?

I went to a fair recently and it was loud, and when I got home I could hear music and all kinds of random sounds that were at the fair. Seems more bassy music is more likely to get stuck, but not exactly like the song, just a similar rhythm.

I had what seemed like an ear infection, urgent care told me the ear was really red and seemed puffy, and I felt like it was tender. At any rate, my left ear still feels weird sometimes, like it'll be full one day, next day is normal. For a while I thought I had MES (Musical Ear Syndrome) but I've realized that I'm not waking up to the sounds of music in the middle of the night.

It still feels like my brain is readjusting, and to top it off I had COVID-19 in July, two weeks after my ear infection. I'm so confused, and I'm still seeking answers.

Anyway, thanks for this comment because it's giving me hope it may not be MES. When I get music stuck in my head it can sometimes sound like it's coming from outside. I'm just super bummed I may be stuck with this forever.

 

Did yours go away? Did your fan sometimes create music as well, or did it ever sound like someone was blasting music with their subwoofer outside? Ever since my ear infection, and also COVID-19, my ears seem to notice low frequency sounds coming from the A/C or machinery, even fridges. If music is super loud, I'll still hear something similar to it.

 

For me it was primarily things like sirens in the distance or the sound the microwave made after it was done running so high pitched stuff in similar ranges to my tinnitus tones.

 

Do you get music stuck in your head?

Do you have similar symptoms to mine? If so, has yours gotten better? How long have you had this issue?

 

Certain instruments in music did it but it was mainly just high pitched sounds in general. It still happens a little bit for a minute sometimes with sirens and alarms but subsided after a few months for me. I did not get it from the things you described in your post although I have avoided loud music like the plague since I noticed the ringing in my ears so I can't say I have experience with that.

When you say:

It makes me think you might be experiencing distortions also known dyacusis but I don't really know much about that since I haven't really experienced it myself so I may not be the best source on identifying it.

COVID-19 is certainly a strange one that can cause all sorts of weird stuff.

 

The thing is, ever since taking Prednisone, everything sounds more or less accurate again, like night and day difference, so it may be caused by some sort of inflammation.

 

Prednisone gave me hyperacusis and terrible tinnitus.

 

Interesting, it has helped me immensely, but not without issues though.

 

Is your hyperacus better now?

 

Wayyyyy better. I used to feel like I was being raped by every noise. I couldn't even talk. I had to whisper or my head felt like it was going to explode. And now I can be in loud environments without problems. I'm talking 90 dB plus. Not that I do that because I don't want my tinnitus to get worse. But it doesn't feel like I'm being assaulted anymore.

 

Marshall, did your reactive tinnitus go away?

 

My distortions are still there, but I don’t notice them nearly as much. My reactive tinnitus is still there with certain noises. Like It’ll hover over the shower and some fans. Especially higher pitched ones. And my high frequency tinnitus will linger after I turn off any high frequency noises but it disappears relatively quick. The more noise I’m around, the louder the tinnitus hovers through the day. But that’s still better than being sensitive to sounds.

 

Hopefully with time you'll get better, and you won't hear distortions.

 

I am sorry. At least your hyperacusis got much better as it seems in your later posts.

What dose schedule did you adopt? Did you taper? It seems that some cases are due to the use of high doses without tapering. I hope you are feeling better.

 

It juggled my brain around that for sure. It did get better somewhat, but I know I’m permanently messed up. I did a normal taper and did it exactly like the package told me.

 

Always a worry these fire alarms.

What about wearing filtered earplugs when in a building with fire alarms? You could still communicate with people with these in your ears.

Also, wear earmuffs around your neck, so they can be quickly put on in the event of an alarm going off?

Would this, essentially double protection, protect from a fire alarm for a few minutes, giving time to get out of a building without affecting tinnitus?