Has Anyone Taken an OAE Test After Getting Tinnitus from Table Saw Noise, Construction, or a Gunshot? What Were the Results?

[Tika]

This is more out of curiosity. If you read my post, you can see that I got bleach on my eardrum, which caused a burn but not a hole, and I was exposed to the noise of a table wood saw during healing while wearing headphones that didn't block sound. I've had tinnitus ever since. December is month 5. I'm 30 and I'm on the Autism spectrum, if that matters.

For extra information, my full hearing evaluation, including an OAE, is scheduled for July 2026. So I have no idea whether any inner ear hair cells are damaged. My guess is yes, since the noise is still there. Sometimes I do hear something similar to silence, but it's more like the overlay of the beep disappears and then returns once I notice something's missing. Running water from the faucet, brushing my teeth, especially brushing my tongue which makes me gag, and vacuum noise make it temporarily louder.

I'm going to try sound therapy this week, set lower than my tinnitus volume, for 3 to 5 hours a day. Being Autistic makes it difficult to get my brain to focus on quieter sounds. I try doing this while driving, because the car is quiet, and I try to focus on the sound of the tires since it's lower than my tinnitus, but my brain seems to latch onto the tinnitus instead of what I want to focus on. I can physically feel my brain trying, and it hurts. So if anyone has advice, let me know. Sleeping is fine unless the sound stops. When it stops, I wake up and have a panic attack. I'm honestly afraid to start sound therapy because I'm afraid I'll develop a fear of the sound turning off.

I still hope none of my inner ear hair cells are damaged. I haven't noticed any major change in my hearing. I can still hear high frequencies up to 14 kHz, and I can still hear low frequencies like bass. Sometimes when someone mumbles or looks away from me in a noisy area, or even in the car if someone speaks from the front seat while I sit in the back, I can't fully hear what they say. I guess that's new, but I don't know for sure. Nothing's certain until July.

So for those who got tinnitus from a gunshot, construction noise, or a table wood saw, and took an OAE test, what were your results?

Part of me's looking forward to taking the test because I'll finally get a clearer understanding of what's causing this noise, if that's truly the cause. It's frustrating not having a full explanation. If it turns out not to be the inner ear, then I don't know. Maybe the brain created a pathway to that noise.

 

[Regis]

Dear @Tika, I am very sorry that you have to go through this. I did OAE tests three times over the last two years after getting tinnitus from a loud bar. As the person conducting the tests explained, an OAE result comes out negative for a given frequency when there is a hearing loss of around 25 dB or more at that frequency, which usually means damaged hair cells.

In my case, I had negative results at 8 kHz in the right ear, and at 7 kHz and 8 kHz in the left ear. OAE is an objective test, so it does not depend on you doing anything. The device is inserted into your ear and the measurement is carried out automatically.

There is one thing I wanted to mention. During my first two tests, I do not remember the sounds being loud at all, but the third test was quite loud and caused some discomfort afterward. Fortunately, it did not affect my tinnitus.

Have you already done Pure Tone Audiometry? If you have, do you show any hearing loss greater than 20 dB?

 

[Tika]

Have you already done Pure Tone Audiometry? If you have, do you show any hearing loss greater than 20 dB?

I have no clue what that is, so probably not. I have had no hearing evaluation at all since the incident. I have never had a hearing test in my life, so when July comes it will be my first. I am sure they will do that test too. My doctor said they will do every type of hearing test to fully evaluate my entire auditory system. I just know that when I listened to a "find your tinnitus frequency" video for tonal tinnitus, I could hear the entire video from about 10 Hz, the deep bass, all the way up to roughly 14.5 kHz through headphones, and then nothing once it reached 15 kHz.

A lot of comments said they heard silence once the frequency matched theirs, as if it cancelled itself out. I did not experience that at all, so I do not even know what my frequency is. I know absolutely nothing about my tinnitus except that it is tonal. I have had no tests done. I can tell you that it started as a very high-pitched eeeee sound during the healing, and once fully healed, it turned into a sound that basically mimics someone flat-lining in a hospital, slightly higher-pitched but the same kind of tone. I am sorry that I do not have an answer to your question.

I was basically sent home and told, "your eardrum is healed, you are good to go," with no guidance on how to handle the tinnitus and no tests to see the frequency, the volume, or anything else that might help me understand my own sound. Everything I learned came from YouTube. I learned that sound therapy is one of the best options, and that the emotional side matters too. You have to control how you react to it so you are not stuck in fight or flight. I struggle with that part. I stress out easily. If I cannot find a pen, I am instantly stressed. I am also prone to migraines. During the first month I had one every day.

I know I am rambling and getting off topic. I appreciate you explaining what an OAE is and sharing your results. All I understood about it was that it is basically like a sonar to check if the hairs behind the eardrum respond.