Guns (Clay Shooting) Brought Me to Tinnitus Talk

Here's my story.

Not really a gun person but a friend invited me out clay shooting. We stand around until another friend arrives and he suddenly grabs some earplugs from a bowl and tosses them to me then walks out the door to get ready. I'm shocked and glance at the range operator because last time I shot they gave me earmuffs.

No reaction so I start to put the earbuds in when I notice that they look funny. Really small like q-tips with a bulb on the end. Then I think maybe they're just not as concerned because it's outdoors and I've never seen shooting earplugs before so maybe that's normal. I put them in and make a mental note to ask about it. They're small they don't really compress and there's no seal.

When I get outside, he's introducing me to the other friend and they're walking over to start shooting. I can hear everything and I want to ask about it but he's just jumping right into it. He takes a few shots and asks me if I want to try. At this point, I'm petrified inside and am having a panic attack. I unenthusiastically say "um, ok". He tells me what to do and I take a shot.

I tell him I heard a ring and asked if that's normal. He tells me I need to pull my ear back when putting the earplugs in. I'm upset inside that he didn't tell me this before we shot but I do it and wonder how that's gonna help when they're so small. I do it but he doesn't ask if it's better and tells me it's my turn to take another shot. Still frozen from the panic I take another shot.

I tell him I'm still getting a ring and he says "I don't know man". While they keep going I'm in pure panic and after a minute or two I collect myself and say I'm going in to get a headset. He says "I think that's a good idea".

It's pretty clear he doesn't take safety seriously, he's not thinking about my safety, and he's not all that concerned about the noise trauma I've taken. I finish the day with the headset, which seems to work fine. I hope that I'm in the clear since there's no lasting symptoms.

I'm pretty upset with him because this is no way to treat a beginner or a friend. He's a Libertarian and later he tells me he doesn't like to be bothered, just wants to show up and shoot. Bad luck getting defective earplugs but this was also a stupid easy to avoid accident. I'm also upset with myself for trusting him and succumbing to my panic/freeze reaction instead of trusting my gut that this is all wrong.

I got to Mexico a few days later and everything starts sounding louder but I don't notice it at the time. Then one morning I wake up with the lightest ring, in my right ear. I ask my dad (internist) about it and he says it's probably earwax and will look at it that weekend when I visit. I make an appt with an ENT to get it checked out the following week.

The ENT says my hearing is fine and there's nothing they can do about it. In 6mo I'll either not hear it anymore or I won't care. A few days later I find out from a friend about prednisone and have my dad call in the prescription, which I start at 2 weeks and 5 days since noise trauma.

My anxiety goes into overdrive, I stop eating, and my symptoms go from very mild to horrible. The tinnitus becomes severe and moderate pain hyperacusis starts. The following week my left ear stops ringing and then my right ear gradually becomes center head ringing. I hear about how terrible prednisone is and start freaking out about that too.

My tinnitus settles to moderate. I hear it all the time except the shower and outside. It ranges from loud in a quiet room to a quiet high pitch hiss in the background. Occasionally I get low tones and flutters. The hyperacusis at this point is mild but still bothersome. I get frequent mild ear aches and some sounds bother me. Not always but things like dog barks, dishes, kids playing, and cash register beeps. The loudness distortion went away at 6 weeks except the occasional funny sound.

 

I wanted to add that the gun was a shotgun. My experience at the time, was a slight barely audible ring in only my right ear lasting 2-3sec. The blast was uncomfortable as well. I don't think I ruptured my eardrum because I went snorkeling a week later without issue. I had no silence, muffling, or persistent ringing.

 

How long has it been for you?

My extended audio gram is very similar to yours and it sounds like our tinnitus is too.

 

It's been about 10 weeks.

I think the audiogram otherwise is mostly normal for my age. My bone-air gap at 6 kHz is a bit large and 14 kHz drop should be more like 60 dB so I'm 2-4x worse, similar to an 80-year-old.

But most 80-year-olds don't experience tinnitus or hyperacusis so I don't think that's my reason.