Made Terrible Mistake Removing Muffs — The External Sound Got Amplified in the Process

Oh my God I made a terrible mistake when removing my muffs.

I am always very careful and very, very slowly remove the cups from my ears (to avoid pressure issues). During this process there now was a loud sound from outside and the sound got trapped in the cups being only one or two inches from my ears, so more or less covering my ears but with an inch air distance because that is how I remove them, by taking them off horizontally. The original sound felt louder, much louder than without muffs so the sound got amplified and trapped in the zone around my ears. I am in panic.

How bad is this? Please help.

Edit: I had read about this before: https://solentacoustics.wordpress.com/2015/11/19/natural-hearing-protection-hands

 

The muffs ought to have sound dampening material inside the cups. Your exposure must have been very close to an exposure you would have had without the muffs. So everything depends on how loud the original sound is. Also, if you are not experiencing ear fullness and your T is not spiking, it is a great sign - chances are that you will be ok.

Thank you for the link! This is very informative.

 

@Bill Bauer Thank you so much! Are you sure that the there is no amplification that is the original sound plus some db because of the unfortunate position of the muffs around the ear in little distance?

In the article they talk about a 10db amplification with hands over ears which I thought was comparable.

I have Peltor's X2A.

Unfortunately my ears have indeed spiked. And I am so in panic mode right now because I have made it worse by abusing my protection.

 

In their study, the hands were touching the head, so the sound had nowhere to go. Also, the hand is not covered by sound dampening material. I have X5A, and the inside is covered by that material.

Most spikes due to "loud noises that the healthy people don't even notice", end up being temporary spikes. Having said that, I am certainly not advocating against protecting yourself against those noises. I think that when one doesn't protect, eventually the spike might end up being permanent.

 

Ok. It might be the case that the sound started when the muffs were still touching my head. So that would be the same situation? I cannot recall exactly. But I clearly know that upon wanting to remove the muffs it was suddenly very very loud. So the muffs were kind of loosened step by step while I wanted to remove them. So kind of the same position as the hands around the ears in their example, only with muffs.

My Peltors also have that material. But would that make a difference if the sound were indeed trapped in that tiny space? I think this is what happened unfortunately. Sorry I cant edit my first post but this is the problem I had.

Would it be possible to have an amplification more severe than 10 db?

 

The way the occlusion effect works is that the sound is reflected back into your ear. In this case, first of all a lot of the sound gets absorbed. Second of all, the sound gets reflected towards your head. The opening of your ear canal is very small, so most of the sound doesn't reach your ear.

Occlusion effect becomes important when someone wears earplugs during a dental surgery. The sound of the drill travels UP the ear canal, and then whatever doesn't get absorbed by the earplug gets reflected back into the ear canal.

 

I know that I cannot undo what has been done but I still want to know if there is objectively any danger and cause for concern.

@Bill Bauer Do I understand your last post correctly that with my clumsy removal the issue would still be the original db level of the sound without muffs?

I am only or should I say primarily worried about the potential amplification due to my stupid way of removing the muffs.

 

I think so.

 

What he's talking about is that amplification effect you get when you have poorly fitting ear protection, or in his case, are in the middle of putting on or removing ear muffs. I don't believe it to be sound getting "trapped" in the ear cup, but more like the ear cup directing sound into the ear canal like a megaphone of sorts. Maybe @JohnAdams can explain this phenomenon as I believe he is an audio engineer.

 

@AZeurotuner Yes exactly. Megaphone would be the best way to describe it.

Do you happen to know how much amplification I have to consider here?

I am so scared right now.

 

The function of the muff is not to act as a megaphone, so there is no reason to think that this is what has happened.

 

I honestly don't think it increases it by much, I would say less than ten decibels as the perceived loudness doesn't seem two fold.

Of course not, but hearing protection must be fit snuggly to function properly, if an ear muff is one to two inches away from your head, as was the case with the OP, you're getting zero protection. Think about the way the outside of your ear works, that's what happens with his muffs.

 

im not an audio engineer but I know electronics and have been a musician for many years.
yes the earmuff cups could certainly have a resonant effect at certain frequencies and potentially amplify certain sounds. kinda like a seashell amplifying background noise and giving the "ocean" sound.

 

Hmmm... I guess we will call this the "sea shell effect". Thanks John.

 

Thank you all! I'm trying to calm myself down.

This is so bloody unfortunate.

@JohnAdams The range of amplification in the worst case would be how much roughly in your opinion? Obviously I just want to get an idea of what we are talking about: 10db, 20db, 30db?

 

But the inside is made of sound absorbing material. It's not going to be reflecting the pressure waves very well.

 

some frequencies may very well

 

oh I have no idea about that.just keep in mind dB is a logarithmic scale

 

In theory yes, but myself and others have noticed this effect, and it does indeed cause an echo. It's only certain frequencies that seemingly get boosted, but you don't have to take my word for it, try it out for yourself.

You have to remember that 10 decibels is perceived by the human ear as being twice as loud, 30db would sound 8 times louder, which is just out of the question.

Where you exposed to a firework or cracker?

 

do you have hyperacusis?

if so does it include ear pain or burning?

 

Thank you for this link!