How Loud Are Smoke/Fire Alarms in Apartments? My Head and Ears Hurt

Smoke alarm went off in my apartment today. I have experience with them, but never even close to this loud. For the five or six seconds I was fully exposed (ears not plugged) during the evacuation (can't open a door without hands), the sound level was so high it felt like it was piercing my soul and caused me genuine pain. My ears are still slightly more full than usual, the ringing sounds are strange and a bit louder, and I felt a little off-balance. Though that part could be nerves.

I looked up the company that makes the alarms and tried the best I could to find the specific model. Of all the ones I looked up, this alarm does NOT have a dB rating. All of the other ones are claimed to be 85 dB, but even my partially deaf father agreed that that noise was far louder than 85 dB. I personally thought it had to be a minimum of 110 dB. Considering that the max noise level of an alarm is 120 dB I doubt that is far from reality.

Here is what (I think) the model is- (https://www.firstalert.com/product/hardwired-smoke-and-carbon-monoxide-alarm-with-battery-backup/) - although I cannot be certain because it doesn't look exactly like the ones in my apartment:

 

Hard to put an exact number on it, but it is definitely more than 85 db for a smoke alarm. I was recently shopping for a new alarm, and noted that the alarm came with a siren for 105 db, and I think many of these devices are kind of in that range.

 

It's illegal but you can try to disconnect it. Some buildings have another alarm vent. I duct taped mine to muffle the sound. I hope it does. I hate living here.

 

thanks for the recommendation @PeteJ , was already considering that.

Morning after update: ears still feel a bit strange, and the tinnitus has changed from mostly ringing with hissing to some hissing and a strange computer sound. Maybe as if one was in a server room? It sounds similar to regular ringing but has a distinctly electronic feel to it.

Doc's office is closed on Sundays but prednisone will be my first purchase monday.

 

How are you doing now? Did you get the prednisone, if so did it help?

 

For some reason I am not getting alerts when people respond. Yes, I eventually recovered with the help of 60mg prednisone. But now I am knee-deep in an incident that just took place on Thursday and was only given 24 mg

 

It just happened to me. It happened just as I was walking past it. It was absolutely PIERCING. I'm so scared.

 

Yup, and I'm pretty sure I just damaged my hearing when the car alarm next to me went off. I have some sort of low frequency rumbling in both ears (sounds like horses running) and new ringing sounds the last 12 hours.

 

Did these sounds go away over time?