Fire Alarm Caused a Spike in Tinnitus!

Has your spike subsided?

 

Yeah it has pretty decently I would say. That or I’m habituating to it.

Not to where I was before the fire alarm though, and I still struggle with hyperacusis though I think that’s from going back to work, where there are periodic short loud noises - as after I took two weeks off the hyperacusis wasn’t bothering me really. Also probably just haven’t been careful enough as I usually have to wear the ear plugs only half inserted so I can talk without occlusion.

But I’m definitely doing better and am coping with my life much better than I was in the first few weeks. I am hopeful and believe that I will continue to feel better about it, especially as I plan to buy ear muffs soon. May also limit my hours at my current job and look for a second that would be quieter.

I hope you’re doing well! Thanks for asking btw.

 

I'm glad you've improved from your spike! & I'm happy to hear you're doing well girly, keep it up! I wish you well!

 

Hi astaff14, I've been suffering from tinnitus since 2007 after getting to close to speakers, since then I've had many spikes which over weeks to months have subsided to a level that doesn't bother me. I'm suffering from a spike at the moment caused by stupidly talking on the phone with one ear bud at to higher level. It's been 1 week so far no real improvement yet, early days yet these spikes can take months to settle down.

I wear ear plugs out if the environment is to loud, unfortunately, I'm a dancer which I'm subjected to high levels of sound from music, I always wear ear plugs and have tested most of them, I'm mentioning this because you said you have ear plugs half in so you can talk to people.
Please check out Alpine music safe Pro ear plugs, I've been using these for years they come with different filters.
Also to block sound out completely I have recently bought Earfoams isolate mini, which seem to be very good, you can only hear via bone conduction only.

 

So I had a worsening of tinnitus about 3 months ago-Nov. 4th- when a fire alarm went off at my work. I was dumb and just sat there while it went off, for about 3 min., and only covered my ears for 30 seconds of that.

Today it happened again. I was wearing ear plugs about half inserted, when it went off. I immediately clapped my hands over my ears and ran out of my work, but I got a good second of exposure with little protection (only plugs half inserted) and about 20 seconds with earplugs in and hands tight over my ears. I walked a good block and a half away from my work, as you could still hear it from just outside so I wanted to get far away as possible.

As of right now... my ears feel swollen, and sounds are bothering me a little more. I’m very scared though because last time the tinnitus didn’t start getting way worse until about a day after, really ramping up with new tones after 2 days.

what would you guys do here if in my situation? Try and get steroids? Or is it not worth it since I protected myself this time. Last exposure I didn’t even leave my job, I just stood there panicking, this time I ran right out and immediately covered my ears.

hoping everyone is well. tinnitus is the worst.

 

If not steroids, try NAC and Magnesium. Hoping you're gonna be ok.

 

Thank you. It’s definitely not as bad as the last fire alarm exposure, but I’m also sure my ears are still way weakened from that. I’m just praying it won’t be a devastating spike like last time.

 

Sorry to hear again you have been impacted by fire alarms again. Actually my ears have not recovered from July 2019 when I was exposed to alarm for three minutes definitely it weakened my ears then subsequent loud events let me down the path of moderate hyperacusis. Tinnitus is now much louder and both ears have burning sensation at times sometimes ears hurts a little bit. I know even sounds around 80 decibels my poor ears are struggling with and ears just feel tired. Tinnitus is manageable as when busy can isolate it but hyperacusis is more challenging and you just feel something in your ear constantly hence why difficult to forget about it.

 

Thank you, I’m hopeful that this one won’t be as bad as the last, though I’m sure I’ve incurred some damage at least as 9 hours later I still have ear fullness. Ringing now seems slightly louder also I think.

I’m so sorry to hear you are still struggling. Tinnitus sucks, but I think when accompanied by hyperacusis it becomes something else entirely. So much harder to live with. Are you able to live a normal life for the most part? Are you in distress a lot? So sorry you’ve had to deal with this.

 

Thanks a lot for you kind message. I really hope its only a temporary spike for you. The problem is you don't know even if gets back to baseline if it has weakened your ears. Really difficult to be vigilant at all times and protect your ears from the daily grind of noise.

It is getting harder as can feel how fragile my ears are now and can feel it. Tinnitus is loud (can hear it above 80 decibels and sometime in the shower) but can deal with it. The Hyperacusis is a struggle mainly you know that ears will are so weak and incapable dealing with sounds which is a bitter pill to swallow. The distress is not so much the discomfort H brings but the fact I still yearn to go to a music festival at least once a year but looks like there is no chance now.

As for normal life well I stay away from bars, clubs, deejaying, headphones, cinema and football matches. Work is fine as luckily I work from home so I am fortunate from that perspective. I still have a lot going for me and while it kills me not able to go dancing I should put things into perspective as everything else in life is good. There are so many other things that can go wrong. I think you will be fine as your have a positive outlook too.

 

Alarms and sirens are the worst. Nearly three months ago I was at a city parade with my spouse who is short and has a tough time seeing over people. So we made it all the way up front by the street and stood there throughout the parade. It was mainly cars full of people waving and high school marching bands passing through for a couple of hours. It was probably in mid 80s dB level as cars were passing for a while and perhaps upwards of 100dB or so when the marching bands were walking through. But towards the end, a series of about 5-6 fire trucks pulled around fifteen feet in front of us and all had both their sirens continuously running and their horns blaring. The parade traffic was pretty backed up and so they were basically parked in front of us for around five minutes and they were some of the loudest sounds I've ever heard, especially considering it was continuous. I'd estimate that it was probably somewhere in the area of around 13o-140 dB. It felt like the sounds were punching me in the chest and some people I know heard the trucks from about a mile away - I was only about fifteen feet away! I had some foam earplugs inserted in poorly and so the noise attenuation probably wasn't very good. Like you, I was caught in a state of panic and so I just stood there the entire time in a very uncomfortable state. The crowd was packed and so we were still stuck up front right by the street the entire time of the truck sirens and horns. My hearing seems worse since that day and has kind of stressed me out with what seems like some ptsd.

 

I feel so bad that you got caught in the fire alarm.

I would say yes, get prednisone.
There are expensive electronic shooter earbuds that will clamp down if any sound is above 85 dB. Basically they isolate your ears but have an exterior mic (like a hearing aid) that allows you to hear... then if noise is detected it will turn off the mic using the passive attentuation. They are around $200 but cheaper than hearing aids.

Good luck.

 

What an absolute nightmare to be involved in, I’m so sorry! You’re not wrong, alarms and sirens are definitely awful, I believe some of the worst sounds we have to deal with. Perhaps ridiculously loud mechanical screeching would likely be worse, but luckily those noises aren’t as prevalent.

I don’t know how you dealt with that at the time, if it was me I would have panicked and broke down probably and would have shoved people trying to get away. That’s just absolutely awful to have to deal with. How’s your tinnitus? I feel you on that PTSD btw - any time any loud noise hits I have this stress reaction of like slapping my hands over my ears.

I’m still spiking a bit, though it’s not unbearable like last time and I’m grateful.

 

Thank you. It was definitely unfortunate - I just wish I had the same reaction as I did the first time the fire alarm went off.. I definitely wouldn’t have fucked my hearing nearly as much. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20.

I’m definitely going to look into those earbuds. I need something different than my current set up which is your average foam ear plug half inserted so I can talk without occlusion. The ones I buy are also bright green, so I look extra ridiculous and I’m starting to get self conscious. Plus they’re not good with fire alarms, and it’s bound to go off again at some point so to stay working there I need to be better prepared. Hell, a girl started a fire in a small turbo oven just today. Thankfully it didn’t.

How are you doing? Have you had any respite or alleviation since your MRI?

 

No difference, thanks for asking... still very loud, and the hyperacusis in my right ear is the worst. If I’m out of the home I keep a earplug, cut in half in both ears... hard for others to notice. I’d be unprotected for a fire alarm, but I could still close off my ear with the plugs in with the tragus.

I was boarding a plane and the flight attendant just had to yell to her coworker while standing right next to me... but I had both earplugs in... so it wasn’t terrible.

I’ve never personally used any electronic ear plugs, here is one manufacturer I found.

Good Luck... you work in a noisy environment.

https://www.walkersgameear.com/

 

I'm a guy and grew up in an area where machismo was pretty common. So I suppose I'm too stubborn to do things like put my hands over my ears or run away in these kinds of situations. I was with my spouse and company and so I didn't want to run off without them and it would've been difficult either way because there were a whole lot of people packed together. My survival instincts are probably pretty bad as well. Tinnitus still seems as bad as it was since after that day. I was going to bring some earmuffs but thought it'd be overkill and socially awkward since they're really big industrial muffs - in retrospect they would have really helped.

 

So it’s been 4 months since I set off a fire alarm at my job, and I have to say that while my tinnitus has definitely remained louder and while I still wear ear plugs a lot while in public, I find that I am doing a lot better and really getting back to my life. I’m not miserable any more, I even experienced a second fire alarm in January but I didn’t get a spike from that at all, only had my ears more swollen for a few days. I was smart that time and ran right out with ear plugs in and my hands clamped over my ears.

But yeah I am doing way way way better. I can smoke weed normally again, I am wearing ear phones again... I feel okay!

 

It’s nice when people feed back on their progress. I see lot of people struggling on this forum then suddenly disappear altogether which I assume they have got much better and doesn’t bother them much which is great

Glad things are getting better perhaps you have habituated ? How is your Hyperacusis ?

 

Yes that seems to happen a lot! I’ll always care about tinnitus and this community, in fact once I can get back to college I want to become involved in looking for treatments/cures.

I’d say I have habituated for the most part, I still am aware of it, but it doesn’t cause me distress for the most part. Hyperacusis is still there but also a lot better, I can handle public spaces without ear plugs sometimes and can deal with moderate noises. How have you been doing?

 

I'm so happy to read this! This is great! I remember when I came back after my spike (three years of mild, near silent tinnitus replaced with torture.) And I was so sad reading your posts because I related to them so much. I'm doing a bit better now, and glad you are to!

 

Good for you yes you do come across caring for others. Thanks for asking but To be honest struggling a little bit as Tinnitus is much much louder at the moment due to the cold and hyperacusis has worsen as it hurts at times. Like you mine started with alarm (house) back last year in July and knew the next day my ears felt weak so any loud subsequent caused permanent spikes. Hyperacusis has increased substantially from Early jan this year due to another couple of loud sounds beyond my control. It’s really upsetting as have a couple of events I want to go to this year but not sure how I can go.

 

So glad you are doing better!!! Tinnitus is so crazy, I’m glad that its been improving for you!

 

Nicotinamide riboside.

 

My fire alarm just went off.

According to my monitoring company, it malfunctioned.

Tinnitus spiking as a result.

 

Fuck fire alarms I’m sorry! How long were you exposed for?

 

At first when it went off I was initially surprised and confused - out of nowhere this loud, high-pitched piercing sound starting beeping.

After my initial surprise, I put my hand on my "bad ear" to protect it and then heard my alarm system declaring "FIRE... FIRE..." in its robotic voice.

I was able to go my master control box and turn it off (no longer protecting my ear so I could punch in the digits).

Honestly not sure how long it took from the alarm going off until I was able to turn it off.

A little over a month or so ago I had an incident where I was walking by a mother and her young child in a park and I guess they had some kind of disagreement and all of a sudden the child started crying and screaming at the top of his voice.

Somehow, socially, I felt like I should continue walking without doing anything (like putting my hands on my ears) which might seem "uncool." I almost immediately realized that was a mistake. It sent my tinnitus level up for the rest of the day.

After that I tried to teach myself that if I hear a loud noise to immediately protect my ear. I practiced it in my head: Loud noise... hand goes to ear. Loud noise... hand goes to ear.

So maybe I was quicker to protect my ear when the fire alarm went off given that earlier experience

The alarm company confirmed it was a false alarm and offered to send someone out to check the unit. Normally that would be a no-brainer but given the coronavirus situation I didn't make an appointment on the spot, but will probably have someone out here eventually to hopefully make sure it doesn't happen again.

 

Hello everyone! I’m back again after several good months. Back in November I was exposed to a fire alarm for 2-4 min which gave me a horrible spike, tinnitus is still a bit worse from that but I had habituated. I’ve actually experienced 4-5 fire alarms since the initial one that spiked me, none of which gave me an issue because I ran out quickly and protected my ears.

Today though!! I was at work and the fire alarm went off once, it was fine, I ran out, but then over the course of an hour or so after it went off probably 5 more times, all for less than 10 seconds. I put ear plugs in after the second one, but my ears definitely took quite the beating from this.

My ringing is not any worse, but I did experience more ear pain than I ever have due to these multiple alarms today. Both my ears were throbbing badly, the left a little worse than the right. It’s been about 5 hours since the last alarm now and my left ear especially still hurts, though somewhat less.

So I have a few questions for you guys regarding all this: do you experience ear pain after loud noise exposure? If so how long does it last for you? If you do experience pain after noise exposure, do you find it’s indicative of a tinnitus / hyperacusis spike later on? Any other thoughts or experiences on this Id love to hear as well. Thank you all. I hope everyone here is doing well

 

You are gonna be fine. These spikes are always temporary.

 

Time to look for a new job I think.

 

I don’t experience pain as such but my ears burn if exposed to certain sounds, music or even noise at a threshold of say 50 decibels. My ears has been weakened by accumulative noise damage. I had tinnitus but last July the house alarm exposure for three minutes was the main reason I am having issues now with Hyperacusis and loud tinnitus in left ear with low tinnitus in right ear. I agree you must find another job as my concern these fire alarms even with ear plugs is just causing ear damage each time. Fire alarm in my opinion are the worse type of sound.