Got Pissed Off and Slammed the Car Door — Likely 112-115 dB — Used Sound Meter

I was pissed off by all the landscaping noise and loud music in my neighborhood that was not letting me find a relatively quiet place to just walk.

After driving around for 30 minutes and at my 6th parking spot trying to find a relatively non-noisy area to walk I was so heated that I first scraped my arm on the car door (feels like a horrific rug burn) which made me more pissed then I slammed the car door unprotected and my tinnitus in left ear spiked. I also felt a pressure change/fullness feeling in my left ear that caused a little pain for a second (I have Eustachian Tube Dysfunction too, as well as hyperacusis) . I was yelling at myself afterwards about why I would do such a thing to myself people stopped the car and looked at me like I was some crazy person.

I still can't believe I did that to myself. I wasn't thinking.

Afterwards I got my sound meter out of curiosity and slammed the door (with protection) but not as hard and got 105 dB, so I would estimate when I slammed it full monty early it was 112-115db, but I don't want to repeat that even with protection on as it would require me to be too close to the door to get that level of slamming force.

The only good news is that I did I noticed that the decibels drop off pretty fast with distance. So, for example, if I close the door soft and normal I get 83db right at the door and if I move a few feet away it drops 7-10 dB which is promising. I was at a distance where I estimate I got 5-7 dB less due to distance. So worst case scenario I got 110 dB.

Here are the events that led up to this:

1. 1st Parking attempt at park near hiking trails: Heard landscaping noise through the car so didn't get out. Looking back I wish I just put earmuffs on and walked for 10 minutes to get behind the mountain which would have put me away from city noise.
2. 2nd Parking attempt: Parked at another side of the park. Incidentally got closer to the noise. That low frequency noise travels very far.
3. 3rd Parking attempt: Parked on the complete other side of the park. There was a different landscaping noise going on. Ugh.
4. 4th Parking attempt: Parked in between the last 2 spots. I got out of the car to hear stalled boom car. It was far enough away to have put my earmuffs on and walked 2 minutes or so to get away from it. But I was too stubborn.
5. 5th Parking attempt: Went back to the 3rd spot because the landscaping noise there was further out and more intermittent. Right as I was getting out my car a loud truck was about to pass by so I put my earmuffs on. It had one of those nasty smelly types of gasoline like some big rig trucks have so I dropped my hiking backpack and car key on the ground and got into the car to refugee from the smell. Well, the red blinking light went on in my car notifying me that if I open the door without engaging the key the car alarm will go off. Well I was trapped now. Because my key was outside. So I panicked, which was my error. I put my earmuffs on and panicky ran outside to find the key to disable the alarm. I scrapped my upper arm (I was wearing a tank top) on the car, hurts like hell still. I was so pissed about this happening that for the next 10 minutes or so I was in denial. This is what led to what happened above on my 6th parking attempt.
6. 6th Parking attempt: I went several blocks away to try to walk on empty land adjacent to the street ( I can't walk on the street because there are too many motorcycles and loud vehicles in my neighborhood, even with protection they are too loud for me when they are that close). I was still pissed off that the skin on my upper arm needlessly got shed (and still burns hours later) that I slammed the door vigorously. And that was my worst noise exposure since my onset 6 months ago.

Lesson: Don't get worked up. I should have accepted that my arm got skin shed. Getting worked up about provided no benefit, just caused stress which likely inhibits the healing, and worse puts me in a compromised state where I can slam the car door without knowing what I'm doing.

I wish I had just stayed at the first parking spot and put my earmuffs on and walked 10 minutes with them on to get to a quiet area behind the mountain where the landscaping noise was no longer audible. But I was too hard headed, demanding that I deserve an un-noisy area to walk in that low enough in noise that doesn't require me to put on my muffs.

 

Oh man, this is such BS. No one should have to pay attention 24/7 to noise. Noise can come from anywhere and is also often out of your control. You did your best rationally but in the end acted based on emotion and no matter how rational and smart we think we are, we all get occasionally overpowered by an emotional reaction.
I feel sorry this happened to you and I hope your spike will come back to baseline.

 

So yes, you got yourself at most 110 dB for a fraction of second. NIOSH daily limit for that is about 1 minute. Even with our screwed ears you were far far from crossing the limit.

To buy yourself some peace of mind go to pharmacy and buy some NAC and magnesium and pop some for next couple of days. It will not harm you. It helps in general. You don't need the prescription. They have no sideeffects.

If this makes you feel better, I think unless we lock ourselves 24/7 we all deal with this sort of normal life loud sounds. I went through fire alarms, car alarms, sirens this year. Not to mention countless moments of people slamming doors (you sit in quite place of "WC" and suddenly someone enters and bam!), dropping cutlery on the plates around me in cafeteria, throwing bottles, screeching door handles. I had moments where I had some ear fullness almost everyday or at least couple times a week from such incidents. And yes each of these makes me feel angry and often real bad, but then I rationalize that I cannot move time back and I cannot give up living, quit work, etc. I pop some NAC and magnesium for hearing protection and try to keep on living. Usually next morning it was better.

Give yourself a time, postpone panicking for a while, and see if your ear fullness resolves.

I don't worry about thinking that you are bit crazy. We are all are. It takes a huge will and effort to stay normal with this thing in our heads. So I see nothing wrong in being a little bit crazy sometimes.