My Daughter Screamed in My Ear and About a Month Later Have High Pitched Fluctuating Tinnitus

Hi all,

New here and I am just looking for some possible answers or support.
Here were/are my symptoms since the incident.

August 23rd 2020, daughter screamed in my left ear during book time before here bedtime. She was pretty close to my ear I'd say a few inches and it was pretty sharp. The next day I noticed some fullness but not terrible. No hearing sensitivity either. Each day got more full and by that next Sunday it was completely blocked.

By August 31st, while driving into work, I noticed the ear popped and some fluid discharged into the back of my throat thinking that was the end of it. Then I noticed distorted hearing like people were sounding like robots in certain frequencies and had that for several days.

September 3rd, I woke up and everything was perfectly fine. No distorted hearing no fullness and still no hearing sensitivity. I had an ENT appt that day (of course) and everything looked fine and no hearing loss at all from the audiogram. ENT said I prob had a temporary threshold shift.

This was fine for about 3 days when on that following Sunday I woke up with hearing distortions again only out of the left ear. By September 8th during work, I noticed the distortions slowly going away but in its place was this very faint high pitch ring that fluttered kind of like an electrical pulse (but it was so faint).

I had this for about 3 weeks with the same pitch and frequency and ear has become sensitive to sound and then it got more sustained around a month of having it. My ear tends to get full only on the left side too along with tenderness in neck and jaw. But the tinnitus is still super mild. It reacts to noise more than anything, but if I am in a quiet environment it seems that the tinnitus is very quiet. Showers and louder sudden noises make it sound much worse like its competing with my environment.

I have read about acoustic shock and it seems like I have had all those symptoms associated with this as well. Tingling in jaw neck left arm and left leg were present for a week or so and sound sensitivity as well (which I still have)

I have gotten MRI of neck and head with all normal results. I have had a lot of stress over this and I clench my jaw much more than I normally do (I have been grinding my teeth for a long time).

Sorry for such a long post but I would like some more knowledge over this and hope for the best. I have good days where this is not much sensitivity at all and others much more.

Thanks so much!!

Sean

 

@SeanD5054
You may or may not be familiar with the term: The straw the broke the camel's back? If you are then this is probably what happened: Your daughter's scream was enough to bring to the surface your tinnitus that was already there caused by the use of headphones/earbuds but remained at a low level, enabling your brain to easily ignore it. It would have become more noticeable as it is now at some point. This is quite often the way the onset of noise induced tinnitus occurs, gradually especially when a person is a regular user of headphones/earbuds. If you act now and follow my advice then there's a good chance your symptoms will improve quite significantly with time.

I advise that you use low level sound enrichment especially at night. I have explained the reasons in my post: New to tinnitus what to do. Please read it. It takes about 8 weeks to get used to sound enrichment so take your time.

Michael

 

Makes sense. Thanks for replying @Michael Leigh. I appreciate your knowledge and time. I will continue on and protect my ears at all costs.

I live with 2 young and noisy children... even my wife is pretty loud when she speaks. Is it overkill to wear earplugs at home? I would feel terrible to keep telling my kids to be quiet all the time, but I have been wearing earplugs in the house anyway, at least until they have calmed down a bit.

Thank you!

 

I wear earplugs at home with my kids. It’s what I can do now until they are able to understand to not be loud around me.

 

Hi @Kendra,

Have you noticed any improvements wearing earplugs with your tinnitus? Also how long have you had it?

Any advice? Just looking for some more positive vibes. Thanks.

Sean

 

It is not a good idea to wear earplugs too often as you risk lowering the loudness threshold of your auditory system. This can make the tinnitus and hyperacusis (if it is present) worse. I have addressed your concerns in my post: Hyperacusis, As I see it. and other posts that I've written. Please take your time and read the post in the link below. Preferably on a computer and better if you print it.

I wish you well
Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/hyperacusis-as-i-see-it.19174/

 

Hi Sean,

It’s hard for little kids to get... but you have to teach them and the wife to tone it down around pop. Get some earmuffs, and plug up and put the earmuffs on and you can tickle the kids safely. When reading, keep their heads in front of your head always.. never behind your ears.

I have been parenting with tinnitus and hyperacusis and it is very doable.

I don’t use sound enrichment for what it is worth and wouldn’t use it if my tinnitus was reactive.

Perhaps consider a mouth guard for sleeping as your a teeth grinder.

Best of luck.

 

The tinnitus I started protecting my ears at home for I’ve had for 3 months. (I've had other tinnitus problems before). I had distortions and aural fullness that has gotten a lot better since the beginning. My tinnitus hasn’t really changed but it’s only been 3 months.

 

@Daniel Lion

Thanks for the reply. I do wear earplugs around the kids most of the time especially in the car. Thankfully so far, my case is pretty mild however it still does react with noise more than not. I notice towards the later afternoon if I use earplugs the tinnitus dies down pretty well, and unplugged it stays at the similar baseline or higher. Sound sensitivities are still there but not bad. Only like dishes clanking and really high pitched sounds seem to bother me. Thanks for the time.

I do have a mouth guard that I just got at my dentist yesterday so hopefully that will help.

Sean

 

I know my wife had tinnitus a few years back and she said it lasted for her around 6 months. Not sure what caused it. She thinks it was noise and stress from working in a very loud school for many years. She rarely wore earbuds though unlike me, so maybe this is why it could have gone away for her in those short months. She also woke up with sudden hearing loss that started the tinnitus. But now her ears are fine. Once in a while she will get tinnitus for a few minutes to 30 minutes at a time.

 

@Greg Sacramento

Any insight or thoughts on my condition. I am reaching out to many of you long time forum members to see if there is any hope for some silence. I experience ear fullness mildly still as it has been a little over 2 months since my daughters scream. Hopefully it was not loud enough to cause any damage but there may be some super high frequency gone. However, my audiogram from mid September 2020 showed all normal hearing up to 8 kHz (standard test range).

Would it be advisable to get another test done to see any higher frequency ranges?
My eCOG and VNG test were normal as they were checking to see if I had Meniere's disease which I felt like I did not to begin with. I did have some very mild vertigo in the first 2 - 4 weeks after the incident.

Thanks Greg,
Sean

 

@Kendra

What caused your tinnitus in the first place? You mentioned that you had tinnitus issues in the past. Were those continuous or just here or there instances?

Also what caused your most recent trauma if you don't mind me asking. I had aural fullness immediately after the scream like the next day and then hearing distortions the following week when most of the fullness subsided. I woke up a week and half after the incident to perfectly fine hearing, no fullness no distortions and everything was great. I heard distortions again the next few days after then tinnitus followed. It seemed as though the tinnitus took the place of the distortions. It's all so weird but I continue to protect my ears when I need to.

Thanks,
Sean

 

Hey @SeanD5054, I got tinnitus around the same time as you (August 20th). I think we’re pretty similar, mine also gets louder or more higher pitch around noises although loud noises don’t hurt my ears... did yours fade at all? I feel like mine did a little but when it spikes it’s like going back to phase 1.

Just got foam ear plugs in case I’m in a loud environment but other than that I don’t wear any. I hope it goes away for the both of us just like your wife!

 

Hi @n_li808

How did you get your tinnitus?

Mine has not faded. When it started I had like tiny electrical pulse sounds super high and faint in sound which occurred every few seconds or so. Now it's more of the same except more regular but the loudness does not seem to increase, only when exposed to louder sounds. I just went for a walk on lunch and the back ground noises from the insects, crickets, and some low traffic ramped it up. It then went down about 20 minutes after I came inside the office.
Strange it has this effect but I think it is so new that I do not know what to expect. Staying positive helps although it is harder than I thought. I hope you find some relief soon, I suppose time will tell as our ears need to heal.

Sean

 

@SeanD5054 I got mine from a loud car alarm that pretty much blasted in my ear. Yes I’ve heard that you won’t see a difference day to day but more month by month. Does yours fluctuate with different sounds?? I have the annoying EEEeEE then it sometimes sounds like a buzzing school bell, to hissing and whistling...

And yes staying positive and not stressing out about it seems to be the path we’re supposed to be taking but easier said than done... crossing fingers that time really is the key.

 

@n_li808

Mine gets more intrusive with sounds but dies down when it's pretty quiet. Right now it's more of a high frequency electrical noise. Sometimes it fluctuates to a bunch of electrical pulses. It's so strange. I just hope it heals. I've been wearing earplugs even in the car and at home.

 

Now it sounds more like high pitched crickets, and that eeeeewwwweeeeweeeeewee sound pretty regularly. @Bill Bauer any insight would be greatly appreciated as well. I know you have been involved on this forum quite a bit. Thanks.

Sean

 

Did you ever talk to any neurotologist from Chicago Dizziness and Hearing?

 

How are you doing? I know we've had similar causes, with a child yelling into the ear. How are you doing? I'm about 7-8 weeks in.

 

@twa

Thanks for checking in. I have a multitude of new symptoms that are pretty awful for me right now. My family and I caught COVID-19 and about the 2nd week into our quarantine I noticed continual ear fullness, pressure, and tingling sensations all over my head. If you read Myriam Westcott's article on acoustic shock this is definitely what I have. I was dealing with everything relatively well until we got sick. I guess it heightened my anxiety and stress levels and now I have TTTS along with a significant decrease in sound tolerance. Also my good ear has become stressed and may have TTTS too, although no tinnitus. I am hopeful I can get over the heightened anxiety but it has been a slow grind and I feel doctors have no idea what I am going through.

How are you doing?

 

Can I ask what were your symptoms of TTTS?

 

Did you have a dip in the high frequencies, but still in the normal range?