Muffled Hearing from Ambulance Siren

I was walking down the street when a ambulance stopped parallel to my left ear and started the siren, I tried to get away as fast I could but now my hearing is muffled on that side.

Have my ears been permanently damaged?

 

@Zander93 sirens from emergency services are very loud but such a short burst of noise wouldn't cause long term damage give it time I'm sure your symptoms will pass.

 

@Richard zurowski it was about 10 secs, I'm just worried cause I've heard 115 db of sound for 30 seconds can cause permanent damage

 

@Zander93. Try not to stress. I'm sure you will be ok these sirens sometimes catch you unaware I've been through the same scenario as you and my ears have returned to normal hearing again and yours will to.

 

I have been reading in this thread about people on here getting exposed to sirens like from ambulance's, but I don't see anyone saying that they were ok, or recovered from a spike caused by it.

I was in my car a few days ago ( I always wear ear plugs, and gun muffs over them when I'm out driving ) sure enough I just happened to see an ambulance coming towards me, so I right away pulled over on the shoulder of the road and put my head on the passenger seat, pressing on my gun muffs for a better seal and waited until the ambulance passed me. It was only for a couple of seconds, but the sound seemed louder then I expected, I could not believe it. I would think that being in the car with the windows all up wearing ear plugs and gun muffs would be plenty of safety protection, but it seems like I got a spike 2 days later, but I don't understand it. Maybe someone could explain how that is even possible ? Or if they have had something like this happen to them ? I'm starting to think that I'm imagining it now, and it's not real at all. Maybe I'm losing my mind or something. It just seems so crazy.


Any input would be helpful.


Thank You

Louie

Quietatnight

 

It may have been louder than you expected, but I seriously doubt that it was damagingly loud. With your earplugs, muffs, and windows rolled up you probably had at least 35db reduction, and ambulance sirens are at most 130db. So worst case scenario it was 95db for a couple seconds, but it was likely much less than that.

 

Alue

Yeah, I was kind of thinking the same thing, I tend to always think the worst, I'm such a pessimist most of the time. Like you said, it was most likely a lot less then I think. And I was thinking with the ear plugs + the gun muffs + the windows up that I had about 45 DB of attenuation. I may just be having a bad tinnitus day. It will probably go back down to my baseline after a good night sleep, that's what always happens to me.


Thank you for responding


Louie

Quietatnight

 

Agree, seem you had plenty of protection, very unlikely...

 

Candy

That's what I was thinking too, I don't know what else that I could have done. I'm just going to have to wait it out and see how it goes and hope for the best like always.


Thank You


Louie

Quietatnight

 

Two days later your spike may have nothing to do with the event you describe. Personally it's overprotecting that gives me long spikes and not very short exposures to sudden loud noise ( which always lasts short cause the rule of thumb is to have hands free to be able to cover the ears. ) What's the point of wearing muffs in the car ? Anyway, the cars mostly produce low frequencies and those get to the ear through the bone conduction so you can't really reduce their influence on the middle ear by wearing double protection. Ear plugs are already plenty.
There are people here exposed to sirens who were ok afterwards, but maybe not in the USA ? I was exposed once or twice, but covered my ears asap which was enough not to get damged.
@Zander93 , if you have muffled hearing most probably some hair cells were damaged or at least bent down , but even if they were damaged for good others will take over within a few days and you may not see the diference ,but saying that you couldn't have damaged anything is not very realistic.

 

Just giving an up date, this is day 5 day since the siren event, and still no improvement yet so far. Usually by day 5 my tinnitus is on it's way back down, it's always been that way in the past. I don't understand why it's taking longer but it's really starting to worry me, and starting to effect my general heath. Stomach pain, headache, and major depression. I just don't know why ? their is no reason for this to to be a problem, I had plenty of protection and it was only a couple of seconds I just don't get it. Maybe it's just going to take longer this time to recover.


Sorry for the sad letter, I'm just thinking out loud.


Louie

Quietatnight

 

How has your sleep been?

 

Ambulance sirens are so loud in the uk, they always annoyed me, why do they need to be that loud especially when driving threw a crowded city street slowly with the sirens blasting away.

Since getting T I have been exposed too this about 3 times now.

 

You think about it too much. You're right, you probably had 45dB of protection, if not more. 15dB at least from your car windows, and 30dB from plugs + muffs.
You really are feeding this spike.

 

Do you have H?

 

Alue

My sleep has been very bad these past few days since the siren event, and I understand that can delay a recovery from a spike.It's a very good point Thank You

Foncky

I agree with you on the total DB protection that I had in the car at the time of the siren event, it seems impossible that anything could have happened. And your right, I do have bad OCD so I tend to obsess on my tinnitus way to much, and I know it's not good. I'm thinking of upping my anxioty meds tonight and try and get in a good night sleep. That has helped me over the years.

Capricornus

Yes I do have some hyperacusis, I don't know what effect that would have on my spike.


Thank you for asking.


Louie

Quietatnight

 

I thought I would send an update, in case anyone is interested. It's been about a week since the siren event happened. I lost a little hearing in my high end in both ears. My tinnitus has gone down some but has not gotten back to my baseline yet so far. I'm not sure if my high end or the tinnitus will improve in time, I'm still hoping that it will. It's very scary to think that I could get hurt this way over just some minor ambulance siren going off for a couple of seconds even with all the protection that I had, I would have never thought that would be impossible. I live in the country were I very seldom even see an ambulance, I just hope it never happens again. It's just a real shame. I guess it's still early I may get better in time. This would be he first time, I have always recovered in the past and gotten back to my baseline from a spike.



Louie

Quietatnight

 

Something similar happened to me with a truck horn (I was inside the car without earplugs). Did you checked your hearing at the ENT? How are you?

 

@cspc

No I never did, but after about a week My tinnitus did back down to my baseline. So I did not see the need to go to an ENT. I'm confident that your tinnitus will go back down to your baseline as well in a few days, so try and stay positive.

A truck horn for a couple of seconds is nothing, I would not even worry about something like that.

Let me know how you are doing in a few days,

Good luck , not that your really going to need it.


Louie
Quietatnight

 

Ok. It's 1 week from the event, I still have H but T is not back to baseline. Thanks.

 

sadly to a degree yes however you may make a close to full recovery. Give your ears a rest

 

cspc

It's too early to assume that you won't recover, it can take some time I have has had spikes last a few weeks and still got back to my baseline. Try and get as much sleep as you can and as long as you can. The more hours a night the better. I have slept for 12 hours one night and when I woke up I was fine back to my baseline many times.

Just wondering were your windows up or down on the car ? and was the truck a semi with the air horns on top of the cab ?

Try and stay calm anxiety can really make it seem a lot worse.


Louie
Quietatnight

 

Windows were up. It was a long truck but not horns on top (115 db inside car I guess). I still hear quieter and have new t sounds in both ears from the incident.