I Suspect Hospital Air Conditioner Aggravated My Tinnitus

I’m very sensitive to low frequency sounds.

Three weeks ago I was admitted to hospital for 3 days. Right above my bed there was an air conditioner vent, fairly loud, rumbling away non stop. it was so bad that I used earmuffs almost for the entire stay, day and night.

I knew I will pay the price but I had no choice but to be there in that room as the ward was full.

I just wish they didn’t “fix” me, one problem solved created another much worse.

Since I left hospital, my low frequency drone tinnitus is catastrophic. After so many years of suffering I’m back to square one. And I’m not sure I can pull through this darkness again.

Has anyone had similar experience? Is this likely to settle down?

 

Hi Val,

I'm sorry you've had another setback.

I think your tinnitus will settle down.

Perhaps your tinnitus is heightened by hyperacusis, your recent hospitalisation, and fear about the AC.

What have you done in the past to help you get to a better place?

 

@Greg Sacramento, I would really appreciate your input on this please. Thanks!

 

My two cents: It's not rare for tinnitus sufferers to have spikes that subside partly or completely. By using earmuffs, you vastly improved your chances. Keep protecting your ears and give it some time. I suspect you will find yourself feeling okay again.

 

I hope you are right. Yet my gut feeling is telling me it may be permanent, almost 3 weeks at home and no improvement.

 

No air conditioning for me either. Sound makes the tinnitus horrible. What's worse is I can't visit with my grandchildren very long because of all the screaming they do. Ages 6 and 4. They wonder why I can't stay a long time.

 

Your anxiety is likely making a significant contribution to your spike. If you haven't already, listen to what Dirk De Ridder says towards the end of the latest Tinnitus Talk Podcast. I'm firmly on the same wavelength as him when it comes to these sorts of things.

My tinnitus has been louder for the last couple of months as well, but I attribute my situation to the incredibly horrible and stressful year I've had with family tragedies. Mine is very obnoxious. The only thing you can do is be as zen as possible about it, because that's the only part of this equation unto which you have some degree of control. I know how utterly shit it feels, though.

 

Deb, I honestly don’t even want to remember the horrible horrible times I had with the drone back in 2018 -2020! I have no idea how I survived that hell.

It was only lately that this drone from hell settled down just enough not to feel suicidal every day but a few times a week.

Now I’m back to that dark place again.

Ever since I had that acoustic injury at work in 2017 I can not handle low frequency sounds, even at home we are no longer using ducted aircon due to low frequency sound and vibration.

Being at hospital for 3 days, exposed to that noise non stop... I knew I will pay the price.

Now I also need surgery, Botox injection into my abdomen for hernia repair, GA plus who knows what other drugs... I’m stressed out to the max!

But this doesn’t sound like stress related worsening, I had many of those in the past and they never lasted for this long. This feels permanent. Something feels very wrong this time.

Thank you for your support! Hope you are doing well.

 

AirCon (not to be confused with Con Air) is one of the worst things ever to have been invented (similar actually, to Con Air, but not so similar unfortunately, in that it's so bad it's good), second only to Leaf Blowers.

Their only purpose seems to be: to create noise, spread bacteria and viruses, and give the person sitting below them (worsened) musculoskeletal problems.

If I were ever asked to work near or under one, I'd tell my employer it goes off, or they can shove it and expect a law suit later down the line for employer negligence.

 

I agree with you! While they have a purpose I don’t understand who in the right frame of mind “approves” such a loud unit as acceptable especially in a hospital setting where you can’t get away from it.

And with winter here in Australia, why on earth it’s running full bore 24/7?

So you think I’m not wrong in thinking that my tinnitus was aggravated by it? The question is if it’s permanent?

 

Yeah, I suppose in Australia they would be somewhat necessary... I believe you can get near silent Air Conditioning now though. If an organisation is using something noisy, they're probably just cutting costs; because "why spend more money on silent utilities when hearing damage is only caused by loud music etc. and when it does occur, it's no big deal anyway..."

I don't know what an Australian winter is like, but it's probably about as hot as an English summer. The joke is, people over here can't survive 10 days of hot weather a year without using these f*cking things, and even then, they get used all year round in our piss miserable weather as well.

I think it's perfectly reasonable to believe that sitting/lying under the constant drone of an A/C unit for days has aggravated your tinnitus; I personally know someone who is certain they developed tinnitus from the same thing (only in a work setting).

This is always the question I'm afraid. The positive here is you mitigated what could have been a lot worse, by being sensible and wearing your ear defenders.

At this point, you're very fresh to the spike you're experiencing, so as long as you do the right things over the coming months (I'm assuming you know what those are (?)) there's no reason this won't return to its previous, manageable level.

 

Hi @valeri, I just thought I'd send you a reminder that we spoke about the effects of infrasound (including that which is emitted via air conditioning units) via PM 3 years ago. I went back to check and I think the information is still relevant. It might be worth re-reading some of the stuff that's there.

 

Just saw your message(s).

Sorry for all that you are going thru.

I know a sound engineer that specializes in hyperacusis/tinnitus.

He said give it six months and you should start to get back to baseline.

He has been very successful with treatment for musicians with hearing loss tinnitus.

Just some research that he had involvement with:

Wayback Machine (archive.org)

 

Ed, yes I remember very well your message about infrasound. Whatever happened on that day at work has not left me, I’m still to this day ultra sensitive to aircon and any low frequency sounds.

Prior to that day aircon noise was a great masker for my drone tinnitus.

I’m just dead worried if this change for worse is permanent as the time of exposure was fairly long, 3 days.

Yes I wore my muffs a lot but not 24/7. I had them more on than off. I slept with muffs!

And while everyone agreed with me that the whole ward is not quiet (aircon everywhere) nobody was bothered by the noise, just me.

 

@valeri, I would speak to your assigned patient representative before entering a hospital for surgery about your handicap. If the hospital has private rooms, then you are entitled to one.

With staying in a private room, engineering can then turn off or lower air conditioning.

Your Anesthesiologist will be your patient advocate in the operating room and their notes need to include sound sensitivity.

I would consider musician's earplugs or earmuffs while in the operating room.

 

Greg, thank you very much for your reply. I wanted to ask you about Botox injections and if there is a concern with them for tinnitus.

I will need them done abdominally to prepare the abdomen for hernia to go back in.
I was told if they would just do it as is it would push onto my diaphragm and cause breathing problems.

I will know more about dosage in a few weeks when I see the surgeons.

So do you know much about Botox and its effect on ears? Also is GA safe?

I see you recommend earplugs during surgery, that was one of my questions too so thank you for answering.

 

Greg, is the 6 months timeframe related to my particular case or is it a general rule/finding by the sound engineer?

I have just read a few of his studies and I can’t believe that so much is actually known about sound and its effect on our health yet nothing seems to be done. Studies dating back to 50s!

And here we are, in 2021, and none of the finding from decades ago seem to be taken on board when installing things that produce noise.

From my personal experience I honestly cannot believe that anyone in the right frame of mind would approve such intrusive air conditioning in the new hospital, two vents per room, one above each bed. And it’s centrally controlled so no way it can be altered. How that is considered safe not only for patients but staff working there is beyond me.

 

He read your postings and said that you would have bigger problems with low frequency hearing loss, if you didn't wear the earmuffs as much you did around HVAC noise. So, no loss to myelinated nerve fibers and no damage to apical hair cells. He said you received mild focal lesions in the basal cochlea from earmuff use and and that will start to heal soon.

The link that I gave above per low frequency hearing is interesting. I mentioned this bio sound engineer a very long time ago on this site and that he also owns a home in England. He helps brass musicians with tinnitus by using different sounds waves of a bubbling running brook at whisper level played from a distance.

Safe.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if constant listening of air conditioner sound could make tinnitus worse, especially if you are sensitive to sound, you constantly listen to it and the air conditioner noise is loud. My experience is it can make it a bit worse temporarily but it didn't make my tinnitus worse permanently. I used an air conditioner sound to mask my tinnitus at night in the beginning when I felt like I couldn't find any good masking noises. Then I decided to put my air conditioner on (not because of tinnitus) and I understood I could use it to mask my tinnitus. My air conditioner machine is a bit over 60 dB so it is quite loud. It seemed to be the only noise that masked my tinnitus well and I was able to finally sleep after many days of insomnia. I used it for some time to mask my tinnitus, but I used earplugs too, not all the time though. Slowly I started to look for other masking noises because I felt that listening to the air conditioner every night probably aggravated my tinnitus (I had worse tinnitus in the mornings) and obviously a bit quieter masking noise is more recommendable.

I hope your tinnitus spike goes away soon!

 

Greg thank you very much for your message and the trouble you went to to contact your friend for me. Big thank you to him too. It’s really appreciated.

@Ed209 was the first to bring to my attention the effects of low frequency noise and infrasound, just after my workplace acoustic trauma, in 2017. Before that I just didn’t know why I’m having all these weird symptoms when exposed to low frequency sounds, I just knew something is not right!

From your last post, if I’m not wrong, even hearing protection is causing us some level of harm???

Honestly I don’t know what to think of this condition anymore...