I Realise This Is Likely Anxiety — Car Boot Slamming

Okay, I do suffer badly from anxiety, but also tinnitus and problems with noise. If I am in a supermarket for instance and a baby cries I have to get out of that aisle as I can't cope with the shriek, it drives me crazy.

Anyway, today I was sat in the drivers seat and someone got out to slam the boot (trunk) shut as it was not closed properly, so they slammed it shut really heavily and powerfully as the boot has issues with closing so needs to be really slammed. I was inside as I mention. The passenger door was wide open, but all other doors closed. The noise felt a bit like a impact sound where you feel it all over your body. I managed to put my finger in my left ear before it was slammed, but didn't reach my right ear in time. So my right ear now feels sore and a bit different, hard to explain.

I realise this could all just be anxiety, but could a boot slamming on a car (Ford C-max) cause any ear issues? It was more sensation than noise. My ear was facing the window, not the boot. I will probably wonder why I posted this tomorrow, but just a bit concerned right now.

Thanks all

 

Just anxiety... slamming car door with meter next to it that barely makes it go past 95 db...

 

Hopefully all is OK. God bless you !!

 

100% anxiety. There really is no need to worry about such noises. Just yesterday, I was at a friends watching the boxing with a load of mates, and one of them dropped a bottle of Stella (from fridge height) straight onto a hard tiled floor. The noise was so loud that my other mate (who owns the house) shouted down and asked: ‘What the hell was that!’. It made a really loud clink (didn’t shatter) that would have had me worried for days in the past. I just shrugged it off and thought oh well.

 

I agree with replies above. However, these kind of noises are really difficult to measure. It depends of course from the model and the force that is used in closing the door/trunk. But it also highly depends on your position in the car or near it, because the car basically works as a big subwoofer box and the sound wave is heavy on the lows. In the near field (less than few wave lengths of the lowest frequency from the source. Wave length is 6 meters for 50 Hz for example.) measurements can vary a lot. But these innocent blasts can go over 120dBC, so maybe banging the trunk all day long isn't the best idea for tinnitus sufferers. Blocking your ears with fingers in such a situation is nothing to be ashamed of, if it reduces the anxiety.

 

I can get a temporary spike from slamming doors but it always goes down again usually after a few minutes. My T tends to get louder through the day anyway, so I've accepted that I can expect this to happen and that it will be back to its usual level overnight in the morning, as long as I've avoided any extreme noise sources. If I'm driving the kids to school I'll usually pop my musician's earplugs in to muffle the slamming boot. Also in case they start any bickering

 

I wear 20 db musician's earplugs around all the time. When I am driving, especially in stores, at gas stations.. Anywhere out in public or where I might encounter loud or semi loud noises. I use the Doc's Proplugs, because they don't fit into the ear canal, but seal the ear like a toilet plunger. Very comfortable to wear all day if I want. The musician's plugs are 20db reduction with a very flat eq so you can hear everything like the volume is turned down, and the regular plugs (without the little hole) are 26 db reduction. Not as flat but still pretty good. Musician's plugs are usually not good for very sudden loud percussion noise like gunfire up close. Best use rifle earmuffs for that sort of thing.

 

how could "pain from sound" caused by a loud noise be anxiety?

Take a look at this and seek medical help and make sure to tell doctors "noise causes pain" due to being exposed to dangerously loud noise that may have harmed your middle/inner ear.


https://www.statnews.com/2016/02/18/noise-induced-ear-pain/

 

I know it is an old thread, but do you have any more information about these measurements? Where in/outside the car the noise will be the loudest etc.

I experienced about exactly the same as OP yesterday and found this. However I was on my way out of the car (just got both feet on the ground outside the drivers door, facing forward so with one ear "facing" the door opening). Then the other person suddenly slammed the boot. The noise from the boot mechanism itself was not high, but as if it almost drowned in the pressure wave coming out from the open car door. I felt the pressure wave on the whole side of the body.

My ear "clogged" from the pressure (like when a fast train enters a tunnel, but a bit faster and with more pressure). I guess this pressure wave phenomena (very low frequency) is making me more anxious because it is so difficult to tell the "sound level" compared to higher frequencies with more sound and less "pressure wave".

It feels so much powerful, but is it really in terms of dB/danger for the ears?