How Careful Should I Be Around Noise?

Hey everyone,

I'v had tinnitus for about a year and due to recent acoustic trauma I've been dealing with a spike. Today and yesterday has been a little better, I think it's either fading or I'm not focusing on it as much.

My question is how careful should I be around sound? I may have mild hyperacusis since moderately loud sounds are annoying me more than they used to. I'm constantly worried about getting a worse spike.

Should I go out without earplugs if I'm going to a place that's not too loud? For example a park, restaurant, store etc. Or should I wear earplugs whenever I'm out?

Is going to the movies with earplugs safe? A family party with earplugs? Obviously super loud events are definitely out.

I want to do whatever I need to not make my tinnitus worse and also not make the hyperacusis worse (if that's what I have).

Thanks for your help!

 

My guess is that you will receive a variety of responses to the question but my suggestion is to carry earplugs with you and wear as you feel you need them. The louder the environment, the more likely you will be to wear them. You be the judge of that.

 

You should "play it by ear." If you get a spike or a full ear sensation after spending time at a restaurant, you will want to wear protection, or, better yet, avoid going there for the next year or two. If you have always been ok after spending time at a store, then you will likely continue to be ok. Listen to the signals given to you by your own body. If you are at a restaurant and it feels too loud/irritating - leave. Also, check out the posts I quoted in the first post of
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/learn-from-others-mistakes.29437/

Ear plugs can provide a false sense of security:

Check out

 

Thank you for your response. I think that's probably the best thing too, being smart. I don't want to get stuck in the habit of automatically wearing them everywhere and being paranoid because I already feel myself going down that path.

I was gonna go hiking today and was thinking about wearing them when I'm driving and when I'm in the woods even though there's probably not gonna be anything loud. I'm constantly worried about making things worse.

 

Thanks Bill, I'm definitely going to avoid loud places. It's the random unexpected loud noises that give me anxiety and make me worry about making the tinnitus worse. I'm tempted to wear earplugs whenever I drive or even go to quiet places like a park but I might be overdoing it.

 

@MikeO123 Now you have it. It will be a life long endeavor. Avoid all loud noises when possible. Spikes can also happen for no reason. 30 years of tinnitus and many spikes experienced I pray for better treatments or cure.

 

I'm very careless around noise, i generally protect my ears when i hear a car coming by cupping or pressing down on my lobes. Otherwise in my house i smash dishes daily or some days when i wake up I have a fit and start throwing things which then creates noise but my ears seems to put up with it.

 

I went on a road trip once, and after I didn't wear my earplugs for a couple of hours, I got a T spike. This has convinced me to wear earplugs (on road trips I wear noise cancelling headphones over earplugs, or I wear ear muffs to give my ears a rest from earplugs) when I drive.

Wearing hearing protection in a quiet park seems like overdoing it. However, wearing it to a supermarket that has metal carts and those beepers at the checkout counters, might be a good idea. I wear earplugs when I walk by a busy street where trucks and motorcycles might accelerate as they drive by. I don't wear them on smaller, quieter streets. In my experience, underground parking garages are not safe for people like us - they often have heavy metal doors that slam generating tremendous noise.

You will never be able to protect yourself against all noise and spikes. But this also means that everyone whose T has faded has had spikes and still ended up being ok. So try to minimize the number of times you get spikes, but don't worry too much when you get exposed to noise - chances are the spike is going to be temporary.

Use your common sense. You don't want this to become debilitating: