Question to Those with Noise-Induced Tinnitus Who Got Re-Exposed to Loud Noise

I've had tinnitus (so slight barely noticeable from 13-18, at 19 I really got it hard from a exposure to loud noise at a festival...to point where I had a temporary threshold shift, everything muffled for awhile.

Since then, 26 now, I've habituated and barely noticed it until sleeping (which I could fall asleep with out really any masking!). That was, until June 4th 2015 when that night i noticed my T was loud that night which I assume was from 6 days prior waking up to a loud table saw outside my room (windows wide open) which no doubt damaged my ears, or ruined any half-surviving hair cells/nerve pathways that were already on their last legs and finally got damaged.

So, it's been a month and almost 2 weeks since the T increase (and fluctuation of intensity and pitch, which I've never had before plus more reactive to sounds) of and while I may feel ever so slightly better, I'm curious on peoples experience here how long after the "event" can you still see improvement? I can find nothing online for "ear recovery times" in terms of damage from noise to hair cells or neural pathways. Can your ears recover 2 months down the road, 3 months? I guess I'm looking for first hand experiences with those who already had T but got exposed again to see if they noticed after "x" amount of time, it wen't back to baseline. I can't help but feel a month and almost 2 weeks has been a long time for ear recovery, and if it hasn't gone back to baseline yet I'm probably stuck where I am. Am I giving up too soon or have many of you noticed an improvement or back to baseline after 2 to 3 months?

 

The general timeframe given is usually six months, but, no one really understands how any of this works.

 

Thanks for the reply. So I'm low with in that time frame if that is true, which I hope it is.

I feel as if, going out and about and being around noise is now causing my T to raise, fluctuate in tone ect.. for days afterwards. Things that shouldn't cause damage. I can't help but wonder if this is because the damage is that bad to my ears, or perhaps I'm still recovering and noises are just exacerbating the T while I'm healing.

I'm mainly concerned on if it's going to get much worse if I'm out and about even around 70-80db noises. I don't know if I should recluse and help it repair or still try to function outside and hope every day noises aren't furthering any damage that might be recoverable if I was otherwise in a generally 40-60db house.

 

I can only speak for myself, but I've noticed that "quiet" 40db urban houses, don't make me feel nearly as relaxed and unstressed as truly "natural" 15-20db soundscapes. But, that's hard to do in a city.

 

Yeah, I suppose its very subjective and how reactive you are.

For years I was fine, but now since this increase from I assume the wood saw exposure, which still boggles my mind that with in less than 10 seconds it could do this, my T seems to get higher from being out. In car traveling, around 75-80db areas. For short periods of time and I come home and hear it louder, which never used to happen to me.

I'm stuck because I don't know if my ears are just THAT damaged now they can't handle things anymore or am I just recovering and my ears are in a volatile state from what ever occurred. I'm more concerned about it getting even WORSE than where I am now. You hear people and ENT's say you're fine, you're not more susceptible to damage at noises around 85db. Well 8h for a healthy ear is different from where we're at you would think. Hair cell damage, nerve damage, who knows how damaged we are and our threshold on damage is now. I don't know what to do, and scared overly resting and staying home could make my H worse and my tolerance worse.

Really sucks.

 

How did things work out? Did your Tinnitus come down any with time?