I Have to Fly in a Couple of Months

Should I be worried about getting on an airplane with this T? I have never had an issues with my ears before on airplanes but now im worried its going to make my T worse. Any experiences or feedback?

Glenn

 

Hi Glenn, you shouldn't. I traveled by plane two times after the onset without problems.
Some advices:

- wear earplugs, keep them on until you are at the terminal
- choose a front seat, far from the engines
- equalize, in order to avoid barotrauma (very unlikely)
- drink a lot (of water )
- take with you something to read
...and everything will be ok!
Carlo

 

Hi Carlo, what do you mean by equalize?

 

Hi Carol,
equalize the pressure in the ear with the outside pressure. You can do it yawning or swalloning or gently pinching the nose, closing the mouth and trying to breathe out through the nose

 

I fly on the 4th of March, i will wear ear plugs the whole flight, will this affect trying to equalize?

 

Absolutely not

 

Well, wearing regular earplugs during taking off and descending cause problems with equalizing.
Folks wrote about such cases. There are special earplugs for this. Let's be careful when giving advice.

 

I fly a lot.. I have bose noise cancelling headphones.

Make sure you have ear plugs and or muffs or any noise cancelling headphones and you should be ok.

I have used noise meter app on many flights and they all show 75 db.

 

Are you sure the app is reliable? I brought an actual dB meter on a few legs cross country this spring, and I was getting 84-89 dB range, enough that I feel okay about slapping bunny ears on.

 

Yep, 75 sounds improbable. But so does 105 that some people claim . Huge discrepancy..

 

Larger the plane, larger it's engine thus larger noise.

I measured 75 dbs on Erj175, MD 90, Boeing 717 airplanes which are mostly regional planes... not cross country.

So yea if flying long distance db might be higher.. I will make sure to measure on long flight next time.. but noise cancelling headphones should work. Even dr. Nagler said it was safe to travel with noise cancelation headphones .

 

Yeah, so we must precise what kind of plane/vehicle we write about when giving infos. I asked about Airbus 320 on the other thread but no info so I will have to see it by myself tonight. Fortunately, they gave me a front sit.

 

Airbus 320, is comparable to Boeing 737 or md90.. so I think it should be in the 75 db range.

 

The flying question comes up a lot. So I will just re-post a long entry a did awhile ago. Probably more than you need to know...

FYI, as someone said above: You definitely should not do a descent with regular ear plugs in (and probably not an ascent either. The descent, though, always is the tricky part of the trip). Either use the Ear Planes, as described in the link below, or noise-canceling head phones.



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A lot has been posted here at TT on ths topic. Just search "Flying and Tinnitus."

Also: Here is a link to a post I did on the protocol I use, which involves Afrin, Sudafed and Ear Planes. It does work for me. I have eustachian tube problems.
However, I would say that if you have a severe respiratory infection or sinus infection -- consider not flying. Wish I would not have when I did so in 2013. That's how I got my tinnitus.
Good luck.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/flying-tinnitus.1001/page-4#post-47628

 

The age of the aircraft also plays a factor. I think the newer aircrafts might provide better db protection

I remember flying to vegas in 2011 in a Boeing 757 older version and even with bose noise cancelation phones the sound of the engines was loud.

 

If the recent posts refer to Glenn, he wrote his question in February, so I guess it's too late. If for me, I read the main thread and I posted some questions there. Anyway, today I'm past my flight. I measured the noise with the only app I have and I use everywhere and to my surprise, it never showed more then 89 db. And this only for a few secs. Otherwise during the flight it was always around 80. Any bus or tramway , let alone metro is louder. I jumped to the third row. Also, I guess it's even quiter if we sit close to the aisle rather then a window.

 

I flew two months ago, an hour flight return the same day. I had a mild spike at the end of the day but fell asleep and was fine again in the morning. I also used ear plugs and noise cancelling head phones. Bear in mind that the loudest time in a flight is during takeoff and landing and generally other than those times its around 80db in the cabin. Also worth pointing out the aisle seats are quieter than window and the seats at the front end (in front of the engine) are also quieter.

 

Flying has never affected my T. Hope it will be same for you.

 

I've flown twice and have a 9 hour flight in a couple of months.

The loudest part was the tannoy system - recorded up to 100db, although this was ridiculously loud compared to other flights. During takeoff it was about 90db, then once flying normally it was about 82-87db.

I wore earplanes which are supposed to help equalising the pressure I think?

During the flight, once at cruising altitude, I will probably look to wear foam ear plugs, but not whilst changing altitude.

I had a big spike a week after coming home, but I feel this may have been unrelated, and it was only a spike after all.

Also, it was an Airbus A320.

 

The author hasn't posted since February ! I flew 4 days ago and used those earplanes..and guess what , I had some pain in the left ear..with the earplanes. I used the decongestand, both spray and a pill and anyway I didn't feel stuffy. If anything I would suspect my right ear to react and my right ETD to be slightly stuck, cause the left one always opens easily, so I really don,t know why the pain appeared.. It wasn't long, but still..I was freaked out after the flight..I guess I'm fine = no spike, but I wonder if the pain wasn't in the ear canal simply caused by the earplane, as they are very uncomfty, I find. When I didn't use them ever before I never had any problems, and sometimes I flew sick , unaware of all these things I know today, how it affects ears and so on..I chew the gums like a mad person during the take off and the landing, trying also to keep the mounth open as long as I could but it's damn difficult to stand it actually.

 

Just finished up a 18 hour journey (2 legs) to Tokyo and got another 6 hours in front of me... No issues at all, in fact, the plane noise masked my T quite well.

 

plane noise actually brings out the T in my case because it gave such a steady backdrop to this T sound ... I did around 30 flights these last years and always wear earplugs and ask to sit in the front section of the plane.. the back is the noisiest.

 

Sure the noise will mask T during the flight, but what most people worry about is what will be AFTER they get off..fortunately so far so good, 99% of positive testimonies. Actually any basic tramway or bus is louder than a plane, but I guess it's the pressiure which is the biggest potential enemy.

 

Well, after the 27 hour journey, I've awoke to my normal T this morning

Leg 1 - 6 hours
Leg 2 - 10 hours
Leg 3 - 6 hours

5 hours of layovers in there.

 

Yes choose those earplugs that you can purchase from the shops in airport. they are design to block noise and equalise pressure.

 

@OddV And what ear protection did you use to get such good results? Thanks.

 

Take some extra cash on board to bribe the stewardess (seriously) should you be sat near a screaming kid. Or if there is an empty spare seat, just sit in it and rules be damned.

 

Ron Hed's Nightmare Airplane Flight:...

8 Hour Flight from Hell with Screaming Child

 

Flew back from Newark to London overnight on Tueday, took no particular precautions apart from my Bose headphones. I do have 'ear plane' ear plugs but they are so damned uncomfortable that I have given up on them, I also sometimes chew gum on descent but forgot this time. Absolutely no problems, except today I am very tired, jet lag always gets me after about three days. Since getting T eight years ago I have made 16 return flights across the Atlantic and at least 30 2-3 hour flights in Europe/internal U.S. flights, only once have I had a problem. The problem was not with T but with either ETD or Ménière's (ENT's still unsure), three days after arriving in Atlanta I had some dizziness and balance problems but after a day resting up I was fine. Sometimes I do have heightened T the day after a flight but that is just as likely to be from tiredness as the actual flight itself.

 

I really don't get why people are measuring the noise on flights? It's not as though you can do anything about it. IMO measuring it can only heighten anxiety and there's nothing like anxiety to ramp up T. Sit back and watch a movie, read a book or listen to music and enjoy the flight. Also I don't doubt for a moment that there are cabin crew who also have T, just as there are people in all walks of life that have T.