Reactive Tinnitus to Vibration (Power Tools, Low-Frequency Sounds)

Hello. Anytime I'm exposed to power tools, low sounds that travel through the house, driving, I get a spike that never returns to baseline.

I've read extensively here and although some people can drive with or without hearing protection, a small percentage can't be exposed to anything that vibrates. I've been stuck at home for over 2 months.

I just had a riding lawnmower pass underneath (I'm on second floor) house with windows closed and my ear is now ringing like crazy.

Are there any of you like this and want to share you story? It's horrible. I'm trapped and it seems my life is over as I knew it.

 

Hi Sam - Just wanted to reply to your post, I'm hoping someone with your same experience sees your thread.

I have reactive tinnitus, some days worse than others. I haven't experienced what you're describing, well, yet at least. Mine only reacts to external noises, like road noise, birds, high-pitched noises like squeaky shopping cart wheels. When I remove myself from the noise, my tinnitus returns to baseline.

Does ear protection help any by chance?

 

Hey Joe, where are you going with those plugs in your hands?

Yes, today I used a small electric vacuum with my Peltor 32 dB NRR and I'm having a spike now. You have reactive tinnitus and people have triggers like you mentioned.

Now I read the body and head attenuate 80 dB and 50 dB, respectively. I'm guessing my hair is too long and maybe I'm not getting the full protection. This vacuum seemed to have little vibration and was 77 dB. Which makes me think it's vibrations.

 

Hey there Sam, you know, I'm not sure where I'm going, probably around in circles. That's the way my weeks go in any case.

Now that you mention it, I think I probably do respond to vibration. I'm not entirely sure. When I hear things like birds chirping or cars driving down, my tinnitus reacts, but then it settles down a bit later. However, when I go on a sufficiently long drive, say 25 minutes or more, I get a spike that doesn't settle down for the rest of that day.

When you say that your spike doesn't return to baseline, is that within the day? Do you go back to baseline when you wake up the next day?

 

Hey there. So no, my baseline doesn't seem to go down to normal. Like today my ear is still ringing like mad from vacuuming yesterday and I suspect like other times baseline is increased permanently. Ringing started right after vacuuming and it was a dinky Amazon one. Unless it was the sound, it seems like vibration. It's very reactive. Birds chirping and wind and stuff doesn't set it off.

But I do have hyperacusis at times. People talking hurts and even birds chirping.

Driving in the car is my biggest problem and I'm wondering if yours isn't related to vibration as well? That will happen but mine doesn't settle down. The thing to ask oneself is how loud really is the car? Opinions change on whether to use an A weighted or C weighted. If you choose the latter, the dB can go into high 90s. That would be sound related tinnitus. I just know touching the handle did something, I think.

 

Very interesting, I do suspect that I react to vibration. I'll keep observing to see if I can narrow in on that. I do know that if I'm in a car ride for a short duration, I don't get a spike.

I have to ask this but I'm sure you're not imagining the increase in baseline, are you, like do you think your paying attention to it is causing an undue increase in perception or anything?

 

That's a good point, I'm focusing on it more so I hear it more.

I wonder if it's something else doing it and I'm blaming the car. I sat in it for under a minute the other day and later that night got a new spike, it was low this time but did go away. The other spike, high normal kind, I'm not sure if it went away. All these things in my life are causing spikes.

But anytime I'm exposed to something with vibration I get mad ringing. I even bought a Lexus and it's super quite, 40 dB idling. And it doesn't seem to vibrate at all.

 

It must be frustrating trying to track down what is and isn't causing a spike for you. It does sound like you found a pattern with vibration and mad ringing though. I haven't been spiking to anything lately--I just have my baseline experience. If I wake up with a loud hiss (like today), it has consistent quality and volume for the whole day. If I wake up to no noise, I get no noise for the whole day. It's just random day by day. I think there's some correlation between lack of sleep and hearing hissing the next day. I'll be paying attention to that pattern to see if that's true.

 

It's difficult figuring it out. It's also random like in your situation. My baseline seems to just be increasing. I'm living in the 1700s right now with no machinery. 3 months at home, scared for my survival. I often think it's a med I'm on or something that's triggering it that I don't know. Like Lamotrigine or Trazodone. But those are pretty safe.

I'm thinking my sympathetic nervous system is the culprit as I'm in fight or flight mode from tinnitus.

Going to try to take Latuda but I'm scared as last time ether that or sexual activity caused a spike that hasn't gone down.

 

I have gotten permanent spikes from low frequency noises (air-conditioning, fans etc) well below 50 dB. You are definitely not alone in this. We seem to be a minority though. Most of the people can use an AC or car or sound of central heating to mask their tinnitus.

 

Oh so do you also get quiet days?

 

Oh no my baseline keeps increasing. Just used cervical wedge to do stretch and mad spike, which might go down. But it's up from last week. I sure hope the Latuda didn't do it, that was my one hope.

 

Oh I misunderstood. Do you think anything in your diet could be contributing?

 

Yes I need to cut out sugar and salt. I think Trazodone metabolizes sugar in blood stream to add to the glutamate circus.

That in turn might be responsible for vascular issues in my neck. Neck manipulation did something negative.

 

I want to reduce sugar too. I think I've been eating too much lately. I already am low on sodium.

I can change the pitch of my tinnitus when I twist my neck about, is that what you mean by neck manipulation doing something negative?

 

I also suspect vibration to have caused a really bad spike for me. I was getting a tattoo finished last week and although I never had any issues with tinnitus after getting a tattoo (I have a lot), this time I used earmuffs since the tattoo machine was annoyingly loud. Unfortunately I think the vibration caused by the tattoo machine resonated with my lungs (? - the tattoo is on my chest) and was fairly loud in some spots.

My tinnitus has been through the roof since then and I hear it almost constantly now.

It’s been a week now and I really do hope it goes back to baseline...

 

I hope it does too @Bill_. I see your mood is Insomnious, are you having a hard time getting enough sleep?

 

I wake up every night between 3 and 5 am. It’s hard to get back to sleep. Most days I just surf the internet until it’s time to get up.

It is just the way it is now.

 

I often wake up in the middle too and sometimes have a hard time falling asleep. Do you take any sleep meds? I'm taking Trazodone, it's been helping.

 

No, I try to stay off any medication. I have Melatonin here but I never used it...

 

That's super helpful information. I'm sorry you're experiencing it. I've been very careful with the decibel meter to not go over 70 dB, but dishes clanking is at least 80 dB. Air conditioner or a fan sets it off? My fan is only 60 dB. Is it the sound that sets yours off or the vibration traveling through the floor? That might explain why I can't drive in a car even at 40 dB idling. It's a Lexus too. And these seemingly innocent things give you permanent spikes? This is horrible.

My ENT said that vibration shouldn't give a permanent spike, but I'm not seeing that. Maybe my reactive tinnitus is spiking every day from dishes clanking and it keeps staying up there. Like Joe said, maybe I should wear 20 dB earplugs or so during the day to get the reactive tinnitus under control.

With reactive tinnitus do you see the spikes immediately after the incident? I have a road out here that's 50 dB max but maybe that's contributing to it. This is a nightmare, I don't see how anyone could live like this, getting to hospital, food, stores, seeing other humans.

There must be something else causing it, as the ENT said vibration shouldn't cause it.

 

I see, I don't like relying on medication myself, but I succumbed to it because I wasn't able to deal with the lack of sleep. When my tinnitus first onset, I was getting like 2-3 hours a night.

 

This has to be valid and true, especially affecting those with compromised, fragile ears who all state the same thing (along with me) and should make perfect common-sense. It's debilitating. It affects all living things.

Medical field use this concept with advancing technology, such as the lithotripter. Lithotripsy uses sound waves to break up large kidney stones into smaller pieces. These sound waves are also called high-energy shock waves.

How can this -not- affect ears and balance?!

 

There are so many unidentified subforms of tinnitus that your ENT most likely has no idea.

I have had three permanent worsenings during my first year of tinnitus, the first one from drilling a cavity and the second one from a very loud fan. i actually think the dentist drill didn't cause my permanent spike - it was the suction tool for 15 minutes.

In the first weeks of my tinnitus i got very bad distortions from an air purifier on my room. Nothing permanent but very scary nonetheless.

Throughout this year I realised, for me at least, it's not the dishes clanking, doors slamming etc that cause bad spikes or worsenings. The duration of those sounds is simply too short. It's the frequency around fans, suctions, ventilation systems and air-conditionings that i am exposed to for too long will cause me problems. No way I can sit in an airplane for example. I do not have problems with vibrations. I think it is purely related to damage of hair cells/synapses in a specific frequency that causes this for me.

 

I wonder if my issue is the masking devices I have, a Snooze and a Sound Oasis. I have them set to turn off at night after I sleep. But maybe a constant sound is doing it. Like reactive tinnitus.

I had two crowns and a root canal and that permanently increased my tinnitus.

What you say about the air purifier is very interesting as it's not loud. Maybe there is something in my environment.

I don't like taking Klonopin but it's so helpful for sleep, without it I was getting a few hours of sleep.

Having a tattoo is similar to drilling a tooth, but it doesn't seem as directly connected to the ear.

 

Noticing everyone in this thread saying “permanent spikes,” what do you mean by this? I thought a spike was by definition temporary. Are you saying from minor exposure you’re getting a permanent increase in tinnitus each time that never goes down again?

 

Definitely not always. My tinnitus reacts to everything and will even spike from a 5 minute walk outside without any cars nearby. With really annoying frequencies, I have had permanent worsenings indeed from sounds well below the 80 dB. A spike that does not go down to baseline.

 

Hey, I’m still a little confused what you mean by a “spike that does not go back to baseline”.

Assuming you’re saying it’s a permanent increase in your tinnitus and that is your new baseline forever?

 

Yes, correct.