Help! Ringing After Cap Gun Next to Ear

[DeanB]

Hi am am 19 have had tinnitus for about 3 weeks now have had several doctor visits including a hearing test, it all started when a mate triggered a cap gun next to my ear, for the first week it was hard to hear properly but it got better overtime my hearing is back to normal now but still constant ringing the Hearing Test lady said it would get better within the week no doubt and something about my eardrum had moved abit, but is has been a week now and still no improvement, just wondering if anyone has had anything simular like a firecracker and the ringing has gone away after more then 4 weeks

 

[Michael Leigh]

Hi am am 19 have had tinnitus for about 3 weeks now have had several doctor visits including a hearing test, it all started

HI Dean,
Welcome to the forum. Please click on the links below and read my articles: Tinnitus, A Personal View and Hyperacusis, As I See It. Try to read them in full and don't skim through them. Use a "sound enrichment" at night more is explained in the documents. I advise not to use headphones even at low volume. Things will improve but takes time. Please read the articles as I believe it will help you and try to keep away from loud sounds.

Hope you start to feel better soon.
Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/hyperacusis-as-i-see-it.19174/

 

[Bill Bauer]

just wondering if anyone has had anything simular like a firecracker and the ringing has gone away after more then 4 weeks

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-over-70-recover-3-studies.21441/

 

[billie48]

Welcome to the forum. Looks like you have suffered acoustic trauma. Members here often recommend prednisone steroid asap when T is new. Go see an ENT and ask if you can have the steroid treatment.

 

[Ron Robles]

I don't think that's going to help will make it worse that's a real weird medicine

 

[billie48]

You may be right but each person reacts to drugs differently. Here on TT we have lots of discussions that when tinnitus is so new and may be related to acoustic trauma, a new T sufferer may want to get the doctor/ENT to prescribe a course of prednisone or other corticosteroids. Members here often recommend new T patients to get this treatment as soon as possible. Here is a discussion thread on this treatment and you can also search TT with prednisone to see many prior discussions on this:

http://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads...dexamethasone-others-oral-and-injections.348/

 

[D#8]

Hi am am 19 have had tinnitus for about 3 weeks now have had several doctor visits including a hearing test, it all started when a mate triggered a cap gun next to my ear.

I'm glad you've found the forum and have had ear tests and doctor's visits early, because it may mean you can get help, find out your prospects for recovery, and work out how much you may need to protect your ears from here onwards in order to minimise its ongoing effects. I was 7 when a cap gun was let off in my left ear, long before the internet, and I was too young to even think that I could find out detailed information, so you're in a better position to do something about it. I was probably too young even to understand my hearing test results.

I've begun with all that in the hope that it will be less of a shock to you when I say that my ears are still ringing 39 years later. Your outcome may not have to be the same. The cap gun in your case may have been quieter. Mine was at point blank range and caused my left ear to hear nothing but a crackling roar for a few days. You can also make decisions such as not taking up playing the drums, which I did 5 years after my cap gun incident. I've finally measured the frequencies at which my left ear was damaged. I do appear to have distinct damage to that ear's hearing, mainly at high frequencies. I would suggest getting information on that so at least you know. I did the tests myself using music production software, so my results may be a little flawed compared to an expert evaluation. But my permanent hearing damage in that ear appears to be in frequencies from the note B7 upwards, to virtual deafness at normal listening volumes from the note D#8 upwards. (Those are very high notes - above the highest note on a piano.) So my hearing loss is from about 10kHz upwards, while normal hearing goes up to about 20kHz, though most of that range we generally don't need for anything useful in everyday life. I do some hobby music production, and it probably does affect that a little, but not in a way that prevents me from doing it, though I do have to watch how much I use headphones. And I probably couldn't become a credible professional audio mastering engineer without better hearing.