Scared — Tinnitus Started a Couple Days After Attending an Airshow (The Blue Angels Were Performing)

Hi, I found this forum while dread-searching tinnitus and acoustic trauma. Last Saturday (10/16) there was an airshow at a nearby regional airport. The Blue Angels were performing. I was stopped on a bike trail near the airport and two of their jets flew low over me. It was extremely loud, but brief, and I didn't worry about it. The next day I noticed that my hearing was weird, like some frequencies were muffled. I figured it would pass. Monday morning I was washing my ears in the shower and noticed what I thought was dried blood from one of my ears. I got worried and took the first ENT appointment I could scrounge that day. It was with a PA at a large office the next town over. They examined me and didn't notice any damage to my eardrums, removed some wax, said that I would probably improve in a week or two, and that same thing used to happen to them when they went to concerts in their youth. They had me schedule a hearing test, which is next week on Wednesday. They said I could take NSAIDs or Tylenol for pain, decongestants if my ears felt stuffy. They said they were surprised I didn't have tinnitus.

That evening I developed tinnitus. It's a high-pitched constant tone, mainly in my left ear. Sometimes when it's low it pulses with my heartbeat. Sometimes rubbing my neck or stretching my jaw lowers it. The next day I also noticed pressure in my ears, feelings of hot and cold in my ears, hyperacusis (especially passing cars and refrigerators in grocery stores), muffling of some lower frequencies, and difficulty following conversations in public places. All in all, I thought things were gradually improving from Monday through yesterday afternoon, thought I was hearing more frequencies and that the hyperacusis was balancing out, but yesterday evening I stupidly thought I could listen to a podcast to fall asleep. The headphones ramped the tinnitus back up, and between that, the anxiety, and the insomnia from the pseudoephedrine I'd taken earlier in the day, I didn't sleep. It was awful. In the morning it felt like I had regressed.

When I first noticed the tinnitus I called the PA to ask what to do. They offered to prescribe me a six-day tapered course of methylprednisilone 4 mg. I'm afraid of the side effects, but after last night I'm more afraid of regretting not trying it relatively early on. I really hope that it helps. This week I'm going to try just taking it easy, sitting on the couch with my dog and keeping things quiet. I noticed when I was doing the dishes that the sound of the water seemed to mask the tinnitus, so I ordered one of those table top fountains. Anyway, I'm scared, and I'm hoping and praying that I heal.

 

Jets on full afterburner will shake you with how much dB exist in the lower frequencies, on start up the high frequencies will cut your ears up. It might've caused some damage, but to be honest my former life included tons of jets and loud as fuck aircraft. Never really an issue even with eardrum flutter with tinnitus back then.

If you felt some flutter then maybe some damage happened. Ultimately? It's the same as any noise trauma. Vitamins, vasodilators, NAC and perhaps some Lasix will help if it's inner ear.

Did you TAKE NSAIDs after the noise trauma? That's probably why it's way worse if so. Inner ears can deal with some stress/trauma, but not from multiple angles at once (ototoxins AND noise within a week made me severely worse).

It will likely pass with time, but the steroids might not be a bad idea if it keeps getting worse.

They didn't break the sound barrier, did they? If you heard a deafening boom then you probably have some quite modest barotrauma.

Middle ear is a bit different but there's not much one can do for treatment. A hearing test for air bone gaps would be of benefit.

 

Welcome to the forum. Since anxiety and stress can aggravate tinnitus, it is a good idea to try your best to take it easy and do some relaxing things, the more the better. Time will help to habituate tinnitus to the point you will gradually not aware of it. Good luck. God bless.

 

Hi Patrick! Kind of in the same boat as you. However I did not do any steroid treatment. I’m in the US, and an audiologist I spoke with that specializes in tinnitus says these things take time. Could be weeks or months. I have noticed lots of fluctuations with mine. I’m trying to not read too much on the internet and just allow my ears time to heal. I believe most cases are temporary as long as you have an overall good hearing health . You might be like me and have more sensitive ears.