Moderate Hearing Loss, Tinnitus and Hyperacusis from Shooting Guns (AR-15, AK-47, Shotgun, Pistol)

Hello everyone. My name is Matthew. I had a very bad accident happen to me 12-1-2023. I’m here desperately seeking advice as I’m struggling to continue living with moderate hearing loss, tinnitus, and hyperacusis.

The night of my accident began by having a few friends over at my ranch where we were all drinking. They brought over their fire arms that included AR-15s, AK-47s, 12 Gauge shotguns, and pistols. My “friends” were using hearing protection the whole time but didn’t warn me about the dangers of not using hearing protection. I remember something terribly wrong with my hearing after about 40 rounds in with a pistol and 12 gauge shotgun. I was drunk. I didn’t understand that hearing loss was permanent, and I had no clue what tinnitus or hyperacusis were. The whole night consisted of around 700 rounds being fired. It was truly a traumatizing night for me because I was around 15 feet away from these guys shooting their guns all while I had no hearing protection whatsoever.

So I kindly ask everyone reading this, is there hope for me to recover? I miss my old life so much. I’m only 24 years old and the fact that I’ll never improve terrifies me. Life isn’t the same anymore and I would do anything to be back to normal. Please help me

 

I'm really sorry to hear this. It is a curse to have these kinds of friends. Welcome to the club. We are sorry, but our club is located in hell. But some manage to leave.

So there is always hope, however small. You will know in a few years, and possibly sooner if your are lucky. Protect your hearing in the meantime, live healthy, no alcohol, no drugs, and try to keep busy with things if you can.

Beware of doctors. Most of them can and will screw you up further. Don't let them do any loud tests (acoustic reflex, tympanometry), or wax cleaning using microsuction. Stay away from antidepressants, they are Russian roulette. Might help, might hurt. Take them only if the alternative is offing yourself.

Technically you are in the time window for steroid salvage therapy. Injections through the eardrum are your best bet, but they are risky, too. It does not seem oral steroids ever help, though "research" says otherwise. Best administered within 24-36 hours. My experience is my ears were dying for ~4 weeks after the trauma. In retrospect I do regret not taking them but my first opportunity was at 3.5 weeks since trauma, so really borderline. So if you want to take them, run NOW.

Please update us if you get better. You might. Good luck to you.

P.S. This is the kind of situation where you should consider suing your "friends". If they are well off, it might be worth it (though I doubt given the behavior). They clearly protected themselves, and harmed you. But it is uncharted territory. I wish lawsuits for this become commonplace. It is no different than assault, or at least gross negligence. I am not a lawyer. Given you were a willing participant, it is probably even tougher.

 

Sorry to hear about this. For now, you will need to protect your ears and give it time and patience. I can't promise you'll get better, but lots of people improve over time. I recommend looking at the success stories on this forum if you need some hope.

 

Thank you for the replies and support. I’m just praying for a miracle because I am going through the hardest time of my life right now. I feel like I’m going to lose everything.

 

You're still very early on. You might want to see an ENT and see if you should get on a steroid for the hearing loss.

 

I know the feeling very well. I am living it every day almost 1 year later. Good luck.

 

Hey mate, my tinnitus is from firearms as well, I’m pretty sure. I’m 4 months in now and I’m not sure I have had much change. But the crazy anxiety you are feeling now sure fades away as you come to accept it. Just need to give it time and, if you are lucky, it can improve.

 

I am very sorry you are going thru this, @MatthewR. I too have recently experienced this same thing from gunshots. Steroids may help, but i personally don't know, as i was around 3 weeks in before I even heard of steroids for your ears. On the bright side, you are still very young and as a result you may heal quicker (I am in my mid 50's). Look into the "Success Stories" here and you will see that it is not impossible to heal from gunshot trauma.

Keep a bit of hope alive, and have faith that time can heal you. Prayer might help you endure this. Meditation might also help you come to accept this profound, unwanted change in your life. Talk to friends and family. You may be surprised at how many people you know already have some degree of tinnitus. Know that you are NOT alone with this. And please know that "this too shall pass". Hang tough, young man! In a few weeks, months your brain will most likely accept the new sounds as not a true threat to your survival, and your mind will relax A LOT. Please don't hurt yourself in the meantime. I wish you peace!

 

I also have moderate hearing loss and tinnitus, plus mild hyperacusis and TTTS.

It has been almost 23 months since my tinnitus level jumped and became distressing, and my brain still isn't accepting it. Anxiety continues, insomnia continues.

Antidepressants help some people deal with it, but they have been unsuccessful for me. I'm off them and just take occasional low dose Ativan (Lorazepam) now.

 

I don't know how to move forward anymore. My life is so different.

 

@MatthewR, I'll tell you that you'll slowly start to begin remembering who you were again. Yes, it will take a long time (talking years here) but it will happen.

There is definitely a lot of hope for you to recover. I remember my acoustic trauma and felt dead inside as all the doctors I went to were saying it is permanent; therefore, I would have to live with shoddy hearing and horrible noises the rest of my life. Hang in there, treat yourself well, and it will get better.

 

@MatthewR, a lot of people here will totally understand what you are going through, as we have all been there.

I don't know the volume of your tinnitus, but if you can still do daily tasks, watch TV, listen to music and work, then you are already doing considerably better than most here.

I am not saying this to dismiss what you are going through but looking at the positives, and finding a way to rejoin and enjoy life is really the best tonic.

You are young. Youngsters have a much better chance at recovery — you also have that on your side.

Protect your ears, read the success stories here, learn to find the pleasures in life again - this could fade for you, it's only been a few weeks.

Be positive and stay strong.

 

How are you doing, @MatthewR?

 

I went to an audiologist to get my hearing re-tested and there was improvement according to the tests they conducted. Unfortunately, they said it will now plateau and no longer improve since it’s been almost 2 months already. I notice my hearing loss in my left ear when I’m in the shower, or turning on my stove. I’m completely deaf to high frequencies in my left ear and I think overall sound is reduced. It makes me sad, it really does.

I also have tinnitus in both ears.

I will say another positive thing, my tolerance for loud noise has improved greatly since day 1. Greatly.

Life has been hard, I don’t want to live like this forever, I have been down, but I’m grateful for the healing that has taken place thus far.

 

Consider Prednisolone, it can help even after months:

• Prednisone Improved My Tinnitus and Hearing 14 Months After Tinnitus Onset
• Prednisone Just Improved My Hearing 8 Months After Onset

Ears take time to heal:

• Old Military Study from 60's Shows Hearing Continues to Recover 6 Months Out
• Spontaneous Recovery Stats: Many Recover (3 Studies)

 

First audiogram was taken 3 days after my accident, and the second one was taken 6 weeks post accident. There has been improvement. The only medication I ever took was Ciprofloxacin (regret taking this) & Lipoflavonoid for a couple of days. I’m not taking any medication currently. I want to heal to 100% so bad. I made such a huge mistake. My ENT said my hearing is done healing which leaves me quite depressed. He also said I don’t need hearing aids, but I don’t like the way I currently hear; I know it’s off.

 

I'd get a second opinion and also look into a steroid like the user above suggested.

 

@MatthewR, that is moderate hearing loss? Just to compare, I'm attaching my audiogram...

Cherish your hearing as it is, I am sure you can hear a lot more beautiful things than me ♥️ My hearing loss wasn't caused by a gunshot by the way. Cause unknown.

 

Pretty impressive how much it improved on its own. Is your tinnitus mostly in your left ear or whichever is the blue one?

 

I’m so happy it’s improved so much since day 1. Still not 100%. I really pray for that. It’s still noticeably there and disturbs me a lot. Yes, left is blue and my tinnitus is louder in that ear (I also have tinnitus in my right ear).

 

If I had to guess, your extended high frequencies are likely where you have more hearing loss for your age. While most things are not heard there, some things like high frequencies in music might have been detectable for someone your age. There is also the possibility of hidden hearing loss.

All things considered, your standard audiogram looks better than one would think, given your story.

Pray for better, not perfect, because you may set yourself up for disappointment. Anything more will be a gift. Try to hang in there. You have youth on your side.

 

Your audiogram honestly looks pretty good. You said that you have 30 dB loss at 8 kHz, but it looks like it's actually 25 dB. I'm not an audiogram expert, but the X is right in the middle between 20 dB and 30 dB, so I'm pretty sure that's 25 dB. Some doctors/sources say that the normal hearing threshold cuts off at 20 dB, while others say 25 dB. So you're hearing is pretty much normal. At worst, it's very mild hearing loss, but not clinically significant. Your hearing at 6 kHz improved a lot too, going from 20 dB to 5 dB. So overall, it's pretty solid considering what happened.

Hearing is complex, so even with a relatively normal audiogram, there can still be issues, which is why your hearing may not sound right to you. My audiogram is normal but I still get sound distortions (dysacusis).

Higher frequency loss above 8 kHz, synapses/auditory nerves, hair cells and other things can cause hearing issues even when a standard audiogram is in the normal range (or close to normal).

 

The medical research indicates steroids only work immediately after the event, within the first two weeks ideally. I got on steroids the 3rd day after my acoustic trauma event and had zero improvement from the steroids.

 

I often wonder if steroids would have had any benefit in my situation, but my GP wouldn't see me for 2 weeks, and the ENT wouldn't see me for over a month. The ER gave me a one time steroid shot which seemed to help at the time but nothing more...

 

Honestly probably not but who knows. I read a research paper on the efficacy of just oral steroids (no HBOT combined) when I got on the steroids 3 days after my acoustic trauma, and from what I recall, the efficacy to show "some" improvement in an audiogram was around 30%. But then again, the study was not done for people with just acoustic trauma induced hearing loss, the candidates were any type of sudden hearing loss.

Steroids and HBOT do not seem to be all that effective from what I have gathered; however, they are the current gold standard for sudden hearing loss. If I was to do it all over again, I would start on steroids and HBOT the day after my acoustic trauma. It seems that steroids (basically turning the body's immune responses into overdrive), HBOT (giving excess oxygen supply to the cochlea) and finding a way to reduce inflammation are the best chances at some level of recovery.

 

Life isn't the same for any of us. There is a chance your tinnitus and hyperacusis will improve, and a much lesser chance it will go away. I have spoken to only one person who had theirs go totally away in the 30+ years I have had mine, and haven't followed up to find out if it ever came back.

If it's any consolation, habituation DOES happen. Meaning, if you aren't aware of it, it may as well not be there. It takes time, but most of us do get there, to one degree or another. You learn ways to mask it, and what you should avoid that will spike it. Mine was so loud in the beginning that suicide was a real thought. The tinnitus can still spike up, but there are also times when it isn't noticeable at all.

The loud noises are something I have no trouble avoiding, and its comforting to know that this is something I can be in control of. It's the same w/ our diet and life in general, we learn that having a healthy life is also something that we are fully in control of. This may sound crazy, but in many ways I'm grateful for my tinnitus, as it keeps me focused on the here and now. Having our minds in the past or the future is foolish, and a waste of our all too short time on earth. It is this moment that is vitally important, and we miss it if we are always running around in our heads and not present.

Right now the sun is out (finally), I don't have any real bad health issues, I have a nice place to live and some good friends, life is OK. No big complaints.

 

I reverse habituated after many years. I was able to almost always ignore my tinnitus during the day for 20+ years, fully habituated, but that was completely undone 2 years ago when my tinnitus elevated to a severe intensity of variable tinnitus, which has even worsened some since then.

 

I had a 20 dB improvement suddenly about 6 months out.

 

I wish I could be dead. I’m not okay with the idea of living like this forever. I’m 24 and my whole world got flipped upside down. I want to commit suicide. I can’t handle being hard of hearing. I messed up so bad.

 

You're still pretty early on. I would even try a daily regimen of supplements that benefit hearing. I've been taking Lipoflavonoid daily as well as Taurine, Omega 3, and Lion's Mane mushroom. They may not help, but they surely won't hurt.