Poll: Which Is More Harmful? 5 Minutes @ 100 dB WITHOUT Earplugs vs 1 Hour @ 100 dB WITH Earplugs?

[JurgenG]

It had never been my intention to try to push anyone's buttons. I had simply shared my opinion with the others.

You are, trust me.

LOL He is experiencing a spike because of being exposed to the sound that "no one else reacted to."

What's your point?

 

[Bill Bauer]

What's your point?

My point is that if those moderate noises (that others don't even notice) can cause spikes for people like us, it makes sense to stay away from those noises.

 

[Ed209]

@Michael Leigh @JurgenG the reason I am posting this is because, we started watching some documentary in school and It was pretty loud, I tried to get used to the sound so I did not plugs my ears right away. I listened about 10 seconds then I gave up and plugged my ears. After about 4 mins I took my phone from my pocket (stopped plugging my ears) and messaged my mom to call me. She called me and I left the class and went home. I was there for about 8 mins. I don't know how loud it was, I would guess around 90 decibels. I could talk to my friend with a normal voice, not whispering, with a normal voice like how you would talk to a friend when a car passes by you know.

This is the third day and my T is so loud, I am getting really scared. I am glad I didn't stay there for the whole time. Tomorrow i got the class again, I will skip it tomorrow and maybe even quit the class bye now, hope i will get some support these two months have been hard

If you could talk with others without raising your voice and still hear and understand each other clearly then it's highly doubtful it was 90db. In fact, 90db in a classroom scenario is pretty outrageous and seems very unlikely. If you're worried about sound then 75db upwards will be loud. Way louder than what most people realise. We assume loud sounds are automatically 90db and above, but in reality that's nightclub territory. An average movie in the U.K. is around 70-90db. 90db being the loudest peaks during action sequences. If the movie is a drama it's unlikely to peak above 85db and would almost entirely range in the 70's.

In a classroom setting, 90db would be way too over the top let alone 100db. At 100db, I guarantee everyone would shout 'turn it down'.

 

[Bill Bauer]

It looks like this forum is full of people who support Dave Barry's take on whether or not it makes sense to be afraid of scary things:

You must not be afraid. Oh, sure, you got burned and you got hurt. But that is no reason to give up. You must show the same kind of gumption as the cowboy, who, if he gets thrown off a horse, climbs right back on, and if he gets thrown off again, climbs right back on again, and so on, until virtually all of his brain cells are dead.

 

[Starthrower]

the reason I am posting this is because, we started watching some documentary in school and It was pretty loud, I tried to get used to the sound so I did not plugs my ears right away. I listened about 10 seconds then I gave up and plugged my ears. After about 4 mins I took my phone from my pocket (stopped plugging my ears) and messaged my mom to call me. She called me and I left the class and went home. I was there for about 8 mins. I don't know how loud it was, I would guess around 90 decibels.

Apocalypse it is good to question loudness issues at your age. I think you handled the situation well. You didn't immediately run away and hide. I don't know the answer to your poll question but I do know if you are in a situation where you cannot hear your own voice in a conversation it is best to protect your hearing with earplugs or simply leave the room.

You and your mom should have a meeting with your teacher(s) to discuss the situation so you will not fear going to your classes.

This is the third day and my T is so loud, I am getting really scared.

Of course you are scared that is understandable. At your young age it is harder to adjust and be able to realize the loudness of your tinnitus spike will quiet down. But it will. And hopefully if you and your mom can discuss this with your teachers some type of action can be taken to help you in school situations.

 

[Apocalypse77]

I do know if you are in a situation where you cannot hear your own voice in a conversation it is best to protect your hearing with earplugs or simply leave the room.

It wasn't definitely not that loud that i couldn't hear my own voice.

 

[Starthrower]

It wasn't definitely not that loud that i couldn't hear my own voice.

Okay, that was a good observation on your part Apocalypse. It just takes time before you realize that type of noise level should not damage your hearing or create a spike that stays loud.

How are you doing now? Did you return to your class?

 

[Andrei90]

Try 115 to 125 using earbuds for a few minutes. This was my pattern for the last few years. I'll never understand why I did something like this.

 

[Apocalypse77]

Okay, that was a good observation on your part Apocalypse. It just takes time before you realize that type of noise level should not damage your hearing or create a spike that stays loud.

How are you doing now? Did you return to your class?

Pretty good, T is still very loud.

 

[Starthrower]

Yeah I know Apocalypse. It is difficult because I remember when I was maybe about the same time into this as you are now - I would write I felt good. Someone would comment on it, and it made me, for some reason, regress back into not feeling good.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I think you handled the situation well. You didn't immediately run away and hide.

I would say that the above is an example of NOT handling the situation well.

 

[Starthrower]

I would say that the above is an example of NOT handling the situation well.

I respect your view Bill. Can you briefly explain why?

My reasoning is because a young person learns to handle tinnitus loudness situations like this differently than older people who are out of high school and with more life experience.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Can you briefly explain why?

I might be mistaken, but in that message I thought you were saying that when a loud noise comes on, it is a good idea for one to stay at the place where it is loud, as a way to determine whether one can handle this noise and be ok.

Well, here is one example where the opposite approach (drop everything and get yourself as far away from the noise as you can) would have prevented a serious problem:

I was walking past a stack of speakers at the mall when they suddenly blasted loud music. I didn't have earplugs on because I know that area of the mall is normally quiet. Just sucks that the speakers came on. But worse was that I froze in place, like a deer caught in headlights. I got exposed for I dunno, 20 to 30 seconds before survival instinct took over.

Lex was still struggling with the resulting H (and to a lesser extent, T) spike 6 months later (although the spike seems to have been fading gradually).

 

[Starthrower]

I might be mistaken, but in that message I thought you were saying that when a loud noise comes on, it is a good idea for one to stay at the place where it is loud, as a way to determine whether one can handle this noise and be ok.

Oh. I see what you meant. Thanks for explaining. I was thinking of only in this situation Apocalypse wrote he could still hear his own voice in the classroom with the sound of the video playing. So the loudness level wasn't too much of a threat at the time.

I agree in Lex's situation leaving pronto. That is awful.

 

[TuneOut]

You are, trust me.

We push our own buttons. What is offensive to one person is not to another.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Oh. I see what you meant. Thanks for explaining. I was thinking of only in this situation Apocalypse wrote he could still hear his own voice in the classroom with the sound of the video playing. So the loudness level wasn't too much of a threat at the time.

I agree in Lex's situation leaving pronto. That is awful.

One should "play it by ear."

 

[Starthrower]

One should "play it by ear."

Yep I suppose so. It is in some way easy but hard for me to remember back to the first few years and being scared and frightened and anxious and so on. I really did have a hard time leaving my house for one year. All I could do was stay inside my walk-in closet curled up in a ball crying.

Understanding the different levels of loudness and unexpected tormenting noise was so hard. I never thought I would be where I am today. For some reason I have always disliked that term "habituation". Makes me cringe to this day because I felt back then something was wrong with me mentally. Others talked about regular life going on for them. I could not see myself in the same place.

Oh. I babbled on in this post.

Guess this is why I was proud of Apocalypse being in a room with the documentary video and waiting a bit before leaving. I know he had a spike occur. But it was a good step in this process of understanding personal noise level tolerance.

 

[DT_N_DA_CLUB]

100 db with foam plugs inserted properly for an hour is safe. Doesn't bone conduction only come into play when a dentist is drilling a tooth. Or when noise is super loud, when you hit the threshold of pain?

I saw a band last Saturday on average the db range was under 100 db but it would peak at 100 db. With foam ear plugs in the sound sounded low to me. If louder sounds travelled through bone conduction then why wasn't it loud?