Recovered from Hyperacusis and Tinnitus Caused by Loud Monster Truck Show — Now Struggling Again

I write this to tell people that you can and will get better with time. I did but got lazy and careless and now it kicked up in pitch/loudness and I have hyperacusis again.

I blasted my hearing at a monster truck show in 2018. Woke up the next day with sensitive ears. Then on came the ringing and hyperacusis. I first had tones, then one day it switched to a hiss. I had always been a very high stress and anxious person. I ended up getting on Lexapro and it helped me. I habituated and the tone was basically non existent until I thought about it in a quiet place. The hyperacusis also cleared up. I was back to me, not caring about the faint ring.

Fast forward to the past year. I got comfortable, began listening to loud music in the car again, even went to two night clubs in December with no hearing protection!

Well it’s back now, with ear fullness and hyperacusis. I even got a hearing test and of course it’s worse than in 2018.

I’ve also been a mental mess because I got off the antidepressant and also testosterone replacement in December. I don’t know if it’s the noise or my mental state that caused it, but it’s back. Crazy because I didn’t notice anything after the night clubs. But now weeks later.

I will have to manage this, life goes on. YOU WILL GET BETTER. BUT PLEASE CONTINUE CARING FOR YOUR EARS AFTER YOU DO.

If anyone has some second time around success to share, I’d greatly appreciate it.

 

Thanks for posting. And another warning.

 

Night clubs are one of my causes of tinnitus. Even years before my tinnitus got suddenly worse in early 2022, I started to use musician's earplugs there and mostly just stopped going to them completely. It's a terrifying thought to think of going into one without earplugs once I experienced the hell of worsening tinnitus. I don't even want to go to one with earplugs.

Best of luck in another recovery.

 

I appreciate that. Yeah, I can’t believe I went to night clubs after everything I’d been through. How easy it is to forget...

 

I'm sorry to hear it's come back and you are struggling again. I hope that the knowledge you gained the first time around helps you get through it this time and you can make a speedy recovery and get back to a normal life again.

How long did it take for the hyperacusis to clear up the first time and for the tinnitus to settle down to a faint ring?

 

You are correct @Adam L, people that have noise-induced tinnitus with or without hyperacusis can get better with time. However, as you have found, a person still needs to care for their ears because the reality is, people with noise-induced tinnitus are never completely out of the woods.

You have asked for advice pertaining to anyone that has successfully habituated to noise-induced tinnitus a second time around. I am such a person. There are a few things that I suggest you do in order to habituate again. Keep away from overly loud sounds and don't put total trust in hearing protection when going to loud music events such as a nightclub or concert.

I advise you not to listen to any type of audio through headphones, headsets, earbuds, AirPods, noise-cancelling or bone conduction headphones, even at low volume. Failure to follow this advice, a person with noise-induced tinnitus risks making it considerably worse and developing variable tinnitus, that I have defined as a more serious form of noise-induced tinnitus. Please click on the links below and read my posts: Can I Habituate to Variable Tinnitus? Sound Enrichment and White Noise Generators.

When noise-induced tinnitus increases after a habituation of a year or more, the most common cause is further exposure to loud noise or listening to audio through headphones, even at low volume. Stress can also cause this type of tinnitus to increase too.

Please go to my started threads and read: How to Habituate to Tinnitus, The Habituation Process, Tinnitus and the Negative Mindset, Acquiring a Positive Mindset, Hyperacusis, As I See It. Keeping Things Simple with Tinnitus, From Darkness Into Light, Will My Tinnitus Get Worse?

If you have a printer, my advice is to print the threads and take time to read them thoroughly without skimming. By doing this you will absorb and retrain the information much better than reading them on your phone or computer screen.

All the best,
Michael

Can I Habituate to Variable Tinnitus? | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum
Sound Enrichment and White Noise Generators | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum

 

I don’t remember exactly but about a year. I looked back and posted here about it on another thread in 2019. So that was about a year after onset.