Idiot Move: Blasted Myself with Soundbar at Best Buy

Hey all,

Wasn't going to post, as I feel like I'm being paranoid, but I can no longer control my anxiety. I'm buying to TV for my bedroom and decided, amid the covid-19 spike here in California, to go over to Best Buy just to physically look at the TV's in person to decide which would be an appropriate size.

Well, being the moron I am, I decided I wanted to hear what the soundbars sounded like... if they were comparable to my 3 bookshelf setup I plan on using, because a soundbar would just look cleaner than a 3 speaker setup with a receiver.

Anyway... I made sure to press the volume down button for an incredibly long amount of time to make sure the volume was low. Somehow, it was not. When I pressed play, a fury of sound was unleashed upon me. I can't even remember what I did at this point. I either plugged my ears and walked away, or maybe I tried turning it off for a few seconds before I walked away. I can't even remember. It was traumatic. Once I got far enough away I unplugged my ears with my fingers and put in my ear plugs. I then looked at my Apple Watch to get an idea of how loud it was from a distance... but now I don't even remember. I think it was in the ballpark of 65 dBa and I was behind the speakers, maybe 20 - 30 feet away.

Ears were definitely feeling full after I left the store, and a little light-headed. I'm not sure what the next course of action is. I took 1800mg of NAC, 144mg Magnesium Threonate, and a B-complex. I've already taken Prednisone twice in the last 2.5 months, so I'm not sure that is a wise path to take.

I almost want to plug in some foam earplugs and go measure the sound level tomorrow... or maybe I can volunteer a friend.

Help calm my anxiety, everyone.

 

If you didnt get a spike by now, you're OK. Don't get paranoid over it, it's done.

 

It has seemed a little more intrusive last night and today, but I may just be focusing on it more now. It's hard to say, but I'm definitely more bothered by it now.

 

I was at Costco the other day buying a phone and all the soundbars were lined up near the phone kiosk. Sure enough one by one customers were pressing the buttons and turning up the volume. I just looked at the phone salesman and he said, "I wish they'd move those things already!"

BTW: Make sure your soundbar comes with a subwoofer.

 

Hey @kingsfan, how did this debacle end up turning out?

I'm a little freaked out right now because I just went through something similar. As I am walking into my room my family member turns up the TV (has a soundbar) WAYYY up for the Super Bowl half time show, I'm walking faster in a short hallway but wasn't expecting them to turn it up THAT loud so I was walking only normal pace. SO yeah. Walked right past the soundbar as it steadily increased to what I consider a very loud level. At least 80 dB if not more? I mean it is just a TV soundbar but those things have crazy bass. So far my tinnitus seems normal. But yeah. UGH. Hate the invention of louder and louder things.

Luckily I've been fortunate enough that my tinnitus hasn't majorly increased since getting it two years ago. SO hoping that this time my ears forgive me. AND very loud incidents like this are very few and far between. Maybe once every 6 months. So far I haven't spiked from something like this. I wasn't wearing any hearing protection because we just had company and I was gathering my things to go back to my room. I think that my soundbar was about the loudness of yours because I measured it from the room door with earmuffs and it said 67 dB and my room is probably 10 feet away or less. It's hard for me to tell what is "LOUD" traditionally because I avoid anything loud.

 

Hey @Shelbylynn. Nothing ended up happening from that incident. It was my first, so I was worried at the time. Now that I look back at this, 65 dBa really wasn't anything to be worried about.

 

I know this is an older incident but I had something like this happen the other day. I'm very careful since the increase in my right ear that I got from OTO-313. I was listening to a YouTube video quietly in my truck while I worked. The guy who made the video felt the need to bleep out somebody swearing and the bleep was three times as loud as the normal video volume and completely caught me off guard. Increased my hiss into a loud ring for hours after before it went back to baseline.

I've got the high-pitched, center of the brain hiss that is hard to mask, the right ear ring that's settled down since my injection from ring to hiss, and then the right ear dial tone noise. The ring increased dramatically but eventually went back to baseline. Was trying to keep my mind off the stuff that was bothering me and used listening to YouTube videos in the truck quietly as a way to do it but I don't understand why it needed to be that loud.

Seems my high-pitched center of the head hiss that's a pain is within the range of what could be treated by Shore's device. So here's hoping.

 

Hi Sentinel, sorry to jump in without any advice here. Just wanted to ask - wasn't your tinnitus improved after treatment with OTO-313? I thought you previously mentioned so.

 

How do you do that?

I mean, there is loud sound everywhere... traffic, construction, sirens, planes etc. How do you avoid all that?

 

Hi @kingsfan -- Sorry to hear about your most unfortunate experience. You may want to check out the following very short video on whether you might want to consider Vit. D3 as a safe substitute for Prednisone--D3 is actually not a vitamin, but more accurately, a steroid hormone. -- Take care!


The Best PREDNISONE Alternative - YouTube

 

Okay, I'm not even going to lie, I was half drunk when I wrote that last night. I meant to say decrease lol.

I meant my decrease in that tone, which has been permanent. It has improved, aside from the center of the head static hiss which is very high, and my morse code/dial tone in the right.

But yes it was improved after OTO-313.

 

This was an old post that was brought up. I ended up being okay and it was a non-issue.

I don't even bother with Prednisone after "traumas" anymore as I'm convinced it really only helps with SSHL and not with tinnitus, even if the tinnitus is from the SSHL. If you do have any studies or anything that say otherwise I'd be happy to read though.

I haven't had any immediate worsening after any noise traumas with exception of the audiologist incident back on Oct 20, 2020. All my worsenings since have just been seemingly random or from medication, COVID-19 vaccine, and COVID-19 itself.

 

I'm glad to hear that OTO-313 helped with your right ear. I too have terrible tones in one ear (left ear) along with center of the head hiss and ringing. I hope it can calm down my left ear.

Were you in a trial? Is there a thread where you talked about it? I'd be interested in your whole experience with it.

 

Yes, my whole POV during all of last year is in the OTO-313 thread in Research News category starting in April until now.

 

I'm a shut in.

Kidding, but I mean I'm exposed to traffic and such. But I'm talking about something that is right in front of you with no hearing protection. I mean like a fire alarm that went off in my house. Or when I had to go to car rental place and I didn't realize the lot was by a train track and a train went by right next to us as the man was giving me the keys. Stuff like that. Somehow I managed to make it less frequent. But it's yeah difficult to avoid all together. I guess we can't avoid it all together. But some people on this forum religiously wear hearing protection everywhere.

Because of the pandemic I'm just not out and about as much either.

 

Yes, I do, but for me hearing protection is not enough at times. One just needs to be away from the sound source.

 

Unfortunately life is loud. :/

I 100% understand it, but I can't wear it all the time for reasons. But I do wear it when I'm anticipating the likeliness of loudness.

 

How's your tinnitus developed or settled over time? High pitch rings? Distortions?

I still have fear of sound, but it seems the only real culprit to worsening so far is headphones and not normal speakers / everyday life.

 

I feel like my tinnitus is relatively the same as when I first got it. Maaaaaaaybe a little louder after getting an ear infection? But maybe only slightly. Some days it seems more annoying but I wonder if it's cause I pay attention to it. Occasionally I will get additional tones on top of my regular ones but they seem to be the same volume or quieter as my OG tinnitus. I typically have a hissss sound of tinnitus (shhhhh) or like a white noise type. Sometimes I get a ring overlaying. It sounds like it's my ears because each ear has sort of different tinnitus. Both hiss but it's different or something i can discern them somehow, and also because new tones only overlay one ear typically. But luckily I haven't had a major volume increase. My tinnitus is generally masked by 60-70-80 dB and partially by 40-50 dB (I am doing lame testing with my laptop music and my phone).

In two years I haven't had a spike except for when I had a middle ear infection.

 

That’s a great link, thanks Lane. Do you think it’d make sense taking Vitamin D3 therapeutically to hopefully reduce the volume in general? Maybe on spiking days...

 

How can you anticipate that?

I use hearing protection because I cannot anticipate loud noise. It just happens unexpectedly.

 

Hi @Johan001 -- I think it would be a good idea to supplement daily with 5,000-10,000 IUs of Vit. D3 (for overall health, and particularly for protecting ourselves from severe COVID-19). And up it to 30,000+ IUs when your tinnitus is spiking. Since seeing that video a week ago, I began taking about 30,000 IUs daily just to see what it might do.

My tinnitus seems to have backed off a notch since doing so, but I've also been taking pretty high dose Quercetin, and 1-2 oz. of poppy seeds daily. I think the D3 and poppy seeds are what's primarily responsible for things calming down a bit. I think 30,000 IU is likely too much to take on a daily basis, so will continue to experiment with different dosages.

 

How are you doing? Your tinnitus has been stable lately? Are you on any path towards habituation?

 

Damn, I so much wish I had hissing Mine is mostly in one ear too. Seems correlated to yawning. When I yawn I'll hear the loudest as f twang ever in whichever ear that the eardrum is flexing during the yawn (weird feeling).

Crazy distortions, random sound effects. Seems worse with headphones or without SSRIs.

I had a few weeks with just hissing but that was ages ago, whilst on SSRIs (and also when I was milder in the very very very beginning).

I don't need 60 dB to mask it, but it does get drawn into whatever sound is on (sounds of tinnitus are emitting from the sound source). :s

 

Great stuff, please keep us posted! Hope it works for you.

 

Back to bad again. Starting to think more and more this is some kind of irritation creating hydrops.

 

So what is your tinnitus like, if you don't mind me asking? Did SSRIs help? I wish I was brave enough to take them for my depression and anxiety issues (I've had pre tinnitus), but I am too scared they'll make my tinnitus worse.

How long have you had tinnitus?

If I yawn my left ear hiss gets extremely loud but I assume it's because I must be blocking something by doing that which makes it seem even louder.

 

It's very ok to be terrified of drugs with this condition. Worsening and losing hearing at the same time is scary as f. I THINK Amitriptyline might have helped. Been weaning off to be sure and using a similar drug to narrow down SSRI effect. If it did help, it took about 3 days to take any effect. By help I do mean real volume, not habituation.

I'd like to give Cymbalta a try.

I made a sound file actually, so that maybe I could get people on board with what I was hearing as not just ringing.

It's in my original thread here, had this bullshitery for 18 months now. Willing to try everything and anything, somehow I can still work though (remote).

From 0 to Debilitating Tinnitus in 2 Months

 

Are you saying an SSRI gave you a volume decrease?

 

I'll have to double try it. Trying to be at least semi-consistent. I THINK it indeed did. There was a huge difference a few months ago, it was when I was fresh on some of these meds.
Another guy I've talked to also had a volume decrease using SSRIs.