Poll: After Removing Earplugs, How Long Does It Take for Your Tinnitus to Normalize?

I found that when wearing earplugs, my tinnitus will spike up to a higher level, and this persists for a while after removing the earplugs. By some later time, my tinnitus will be back to baseline.

Have others experienced this? If so, how long does it take your tinnitus to normalize after removing the earplugs, assuming you’ve had the earplugs in for a good while?

Please respond in the poll...

 

For me, it depends on a lot of factors.

Sleeping with earplugs? The tinnitus is badly wavering in the morning until I mask it for about an hour.

Putting earplugs in during the day? It slowly ramps up to ungodly levels, however taking them out gives me residual inhibition for about 15 seconds, so the quietest time of day.

Taking out earplugs during the day? Pulsatile tinnitus occurs for me. This goes away within minutes.

 

It varies for me, but after sleeping with earplugs, it takes around an hour or so with moderate background noise for the spike to go back down.

I rarely use earplugs during the day so I’m not sure, but I do think it depends on how long I’m wearing earplugs.

Fun fact: Sometimes my static buzzing cicadas ramp up insanely when I put my earplugs in at night, then it goes back down after fifteen minutes or so.

 

I have noise induced tinnitus and use earplugs, whenever I'm using power tools or noisy gardening equipment. My tinnitus doesn't spike when the earplugs are removed, in fact I haven't experienced a spike in over 20 years. Spikes usually (but not always) affect people that have noise-induced tinnitus, with or without hyperacusis. The reason for this is because, the auditory system is oversensitive to sound.

The oversensitivity to sound can often be treated. Either with self help or seeing an audiologist that specialises in tinnitus and hyperacusis treatment.

Michael

 

I doubt that earplugs are useful at all in normal ambient noise, such as driving a car.

 

Very interesting that some people get no spike at all from earplugs.

When I wear earplugs, my tinnitus is extremely loud while the plugs are in, and it remains loud for a good while after removing the earplugs. In addition, I think the higher volume while wearing earplugs just gets my mind locked onto the tinnitus, and then it’s hard to get my mind off it for the rest of the day.

Basically I hate wearing earplugs at all because of this.

FWIW, my tinnitus is noise induced.

 

The spikes you are experiencing are caused by more than one thing. I sense that you are overusing earplugs. This will result in lowering the loudness threshold of the auditory system and make it more sensitive to sound. I have explained this in my thread: Hyperacusis, As I See It.

When you are wearing earplugs it causes an occlusion to the auditory system, which will be made worse if you're using foam earplugs instead of noise reducing earplugs. When external sound from the environment is reduced with noise reducing earplugs or totally blocked off with foam earplugs, it forces the brain to focus more on the tinnitus and it will appear to be louder. Since you also have hyperacusis or some oversensitivity to sound that I suspect hasn't been treated, these symptoms will become more noticeable, if you are overusing earplugs or using them to suppress normal everyday sounds. You are treating the symptom and not the underlying cause which is an oversensitive auditory system.

I read your post on white noise generators and bone conduction headphones. I explained on that thread that I don't advise anyone with noise induced tinnitus to listen to audio or white noise through bone conduction headphones, even at low volume, as there's a risk of making the tinnitus worse.

I am an experienced user of white noise noise generators. These are the correct devices to use if one wants to treat noise induced tinnitus with or without hyperacusis. Ideally, they should be used with counselling but can also be used without it.

Michael

 

@Michael Leigh, I actually use earplugs quite sparingly, e.g. typically for 2 hours a week or less.

 

If I wear earplugs during the day, my tinnitus gets significantly louder and after I take them out, it can take anywhere from 15 minutes to hours to calm down. It’s almost like my brain remembers the loud volume, and it stays that way for a while before it can recalibrate. It’s very frustrating.

 

Since you are using earplugs sparingly try to keep it that way. The spikes you are having are still caused by the things I have mentioned in my previous post. Spikes can be treated and are not something to be considered as normal, they are not. They are a sign of an oversensitive auditory system. A person will usually have hyperacusis or some oversensitivity to sound, often caused by noise induced tinnitus.

 

Mine usually changes in a good way. Louder but all the tones drown each other out to a hiss or cicadas.

It then takes some seconds to go back.

 

Yes, this is me.

 

Ooh yeah, whenever I wear earplugs [especially foam ones] for an extended period of time my, tinnitus goes crazy. My ears get super irritated and sore too. I hate wearing earplugs because it can get so painful and it makes my tinnitus spike, but it's unavoidable.

 

I've been trying to wear my earplugs a little less lately. I haven't been wearing them when driving in town for the past couple of days. My car's engine sounds so loud now. Never seemed that loud before I started wearing earplugs.

@Michael Leigh, what would you consider a tinnitus tone that is very soft in the morning and gradually get louder throughout the day? I have a tone in my left ear that usually sounds like wind blowing into my ear when I wake up and slowly transforms throughout the day until the afternoon when it turns into a full-on tone. By nighttime its volume increases exponentially.

 

Your question is not an easy one to answer because tinnitus is complex. There could be more than one reason for it starting as a very soft tone in the morning and gradually increasing throughout the day. I read some of your previous posts to try and determine what caused the tinnitus to develop, because there is usually a reason and this is the best place to start. Although the onset of tinnitus can begin without a cause this is not usually the case.

Exposure to loud noise is one of the most common causes of tinnitus. Prior to the onset of the tinnitus, if you regularly listened to audio through headphones, earbuds, or headsets then you could have been listening at too high a volume without realizing it. Similarly, if you listened to loud music through speakers and I note, that you like surround sound audio, this could be another indication of exposure to loud noise.

You have already had tests at ENT. Ruling out an underlying medical condition within the auditory system that is causing the tinnitus including hearing loss or medication as being the cause; stress could be a factor and should be looked at. However, based on my experience with tinnitus and from what you have said in your posts and the need to be wearing earplugs, you might have noise induced tinnitus, as it's possible you have some oversensitivity to sound, that is often a symptom of exposure to loud noise.

My comments are just something for you to think about and are not absolute. You need to find out what caused the tinnitus. Try not to become too dependent on earplugs, more about this is explained in my post: Hyperacusis, As I See It. Use low level sound enrichment during the day and especially at night. More is explained in the link below. Please go to my started threads and read my post: Tinnitus, A Personal View.

I wish you well.
Michael

Hyperacusis, As I See It | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum
New to Tinnitus, What to Do? | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum

 

Try using small sized earplugs, it helped me.