Shooting / Beats Headphones Related Tinnitus

Hello all,

A few weeks ago some friends of mine took me shooting for my first time. We went to his ranch (Tuesday) and fired a .45, a 9mm, and a shotgun. I had foam earplugs in the entire time, but after the final clip with the .45 I had very muffled hearing (especially in my right ear, closest to the guns). Over the next few days, I still had muffled hearing, and over the course of Thursday (a day or so later) I heard some intermittent ringing in my ears but never longer than a minute or so. Later that night, I listened to some music on my Beats headphones for about an hour at maximum volume. 25-30 minutes later, I experienced a consistent ringing in my ear that has yet to go away (it has been almost ten days).

In the days following, I gradually experienced more and more pressure and pain in my ear, and began to treat with extra strength Tylenol. After a week of tinnitus, I visited an urgent care and was prescribed six days of methylprednisolone. I'm only on day three, but the pressure and pain has subsided, though the tinnitus is still present. My hearing seems to be making a full recovery, though I definitely sensitive to sound. The doctor I saw at the Urgent Care as well as two I know personally tell me my tinnitus will go away in the next few weeks, though from my internet research the past week this often doesn't happen.

Anyways, I wanted to finally make a post instead of just reading through the forum. If anyone has any thoughts, comments, or support, that would be appreciated.

 

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

 

Hearing will never make a full recovery after acoustic trauma, some degree of hearing loss has to exist permanently.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28087419


The predisone steroid was a very smart idea and because of that it is likely that since your hearing recovered (but not completely) within a few days, to weeks to months your tinnitus should go down in volume. The painful sensitivity to noise is called hyperacusis and it's a horrible condition. The best thing you can do for it is sound therapy to sensitize your audiotory system to sound.

Do not use headphones.

Sorry about your incident I hope you make the best recovery possible and I hope in the near future there are treatments for inner ear damage and tinnitus.

 

Please keep us updated on your case if the tinnitus goes down in volume or not within the following months. Protect your hearing.

 

My advice is to stop using headphones for now even at low volume for at least 3 months. If you are able to stop using them ever again that is even better. Please read the post below and click on the links for further information.

All the best
Michael

Headphones and Tinnitus

The views on whether a person with tinnitus should listen to music through headphones are controversial. Some people show no adverse affects while others do even when the volume level is kept low. As I have already mentioned we are all different so the only way a one can know is to experiment for themselves if they want to. In my opinion, when the tinnitus was caused by exposure to loud noise/music and it has become intrusive - by this I mean a person having to seek help at ENT, then they shouldn’t listen to music through headphones no matter how low the volume is set.

Most music has syncopation throughout its frequency range, so it’s constantly changing in pitch, rhythm and timbre. The beat of the music and volume can also change while listening. This evokes pleasure and can stir our emotions. This happens whether we listen to music loud or soft, although certain types of music does sound better played at a higher volume than others, and vice versa.

Once the cochlea in the inner has been affected by noise exposure, it is much more sensitive to sound. This is one of the reasons hyperacusis (sensitivity to sound) is often experienced with noise-induced tinnitus. The wearing of WNGs (white noise generators) as part of TRT treatment can often cure the condition. I will be covering Hyperacusis in the link below: Hyperacusis, As I see it.

The organ of the Corti, which is attached to the cochlea, has approximately 20,000 hair
cells. These hair cells move to the vibration of sound and are just one of the components in the auditory system that enable us to hear. Someone that already has a sensitive auditory system due to noise-induced tinnitus and listens to music through headphones at a low volume, risks irritating the Cochlea further; this can make the tinnitus louder and more intrusive.

I believe it can be misleading when some health professionals tell tinnitus patients, listening to music through headphones is fine as long as long as the volume is kept low. These health professionals mean well and know a lot about the anatomy of the ear. It is not my intention to try and undermine their abilities or expertise. However, It must be said, that many of them have never experienced intrusive tinnitus. The knowledge they have gain about this condition is from their tinnitus patients. Many of these patients have mild or moderate tinnitus and habituate within a short person of time, so many not have the necessity to visit a tinnitus forum for help. I have spoken to many people and corresponded with them by email and at Internet forums, complaining their tinnitus has become worse because after listening to music through headphones even though the volume was kept low.

My advice to anyone that has tinnitus that was caused by exposure to loud noise is not to listen to music through headphones, as the auditory system is more sensitive. However the choice is entirely up to them. There are some people in tinnitus forums that are quick to say headphone use will not make tinnitus worse as long at the volume is kept low. This is not true. Some of these people (but not all) do not have noise induced tinnitus and therefore, know nothing about it. Their tinnitus was caused by another problem within the auditory system that's not associated with exposure to loud noise. It is true that some people with "noise induced" tinnitus are not affected by headphones use, but many are. I believe it is always a risk for someone that has noise induced tinnitus to use headphones even at low volume. And if the tinnitus should become worse due to headphone use, often it will not return to it's previous manageable level.

Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/new-to-tinnitus-what-to-do.12558/

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/hyperacusis-as-i-see-it.19174/

 

@David JC
Welcome to Tinnitus Talk and lovely to see you now posting on the forum.
I hope the plugs gave you some protection and your ears settle down.
I would give headphones a miss for now and protect your ears from loud sounds.
Keep posting for support and updating us.
love glynis

 

I finished up the metyhlprednisolone yesterday. I've definitely feel less pain and pressure in my ear, and the ringing in my ear seems to be not as loud as before. Yet it persists...

 

Steroids help non question
A large does taken right away is best

Not sure why only the UK doctors think they don't

Good idea to store some prednisone at home with a PPI - proton pump inhibitor.... Sounds like a part of a nuclear submarine but it's just a drug to prevent stomach damage

 

if it dosent go away in a week it will be permanent. Most likely it will fall from severe to moderate to mild, in other words your T will go down in volume to a level where it will be annoying but you will be able to function. You will eventually habituate and move on and live a normal life, however just so you know your T is always lurking there, it can be a nuisance or it can be debilitating. It is up to you if
Protect your hearing now and no loud bars, concerts, clubs, festivals, no ear test tests done and stupid ENTs and shitty audiologists, no EARBUDS ever again!!! you risk of making it worse and trust me man you dont want this!

 

17 days so far with tinnitus. I feel very much on edge, and very upset. I'm hoping to see an ENT that operates with an audiology expert in-house as soon as I can this week. I just want the ringing to go away. Because the ringing didn't start for a two days after the shooting & only 30 minutes after I listened to music on headphones on full, was it most likely the headphones that did it? At my old position, I used to listen to music through one earbud in my right ear - the ear that I know have ringing in.

 

The damage to the ear is cumulative. So all of those things are to blame, with the headphones being the last straw.

My T began 10 days after my acoustic trauma.

You and me both... If it hasn't faded for over two weeks, it is likely that it won't go away any time soon. The good news is that it can still fade or even disappear. It can take between 3 months and 2 years for this to happen. You can find more details (i.e., a link to a thread with links to a number of studies about the likely outcomes that T patients can expect) at that link that I posted earlier.

 

Same thing happened to me there was a delay of 8 days. The Audiologist told me there Is no way that is possible. Trauma happens then and there and you get T on the spot. He also told me that stress can cause hearing loss on 4khz (this seems like bullshit to me).

Now depending on if lady luck is on his side and how good his ears are, his can actually go away but it will take time, or it might reduce to a low level, or it might stay the same, or worsen. It is pretty much a gamble at this point. I think in his case the second option is most plausible.

Did you do an audiogram? DPOAE?

 

I had a hearing test done on the day I got my T.

 

That is a delay and you got a acoustic trauma. Why the hek did you listen to music on full volume? well anyways it was a combination of both. How old are you? Is your T on both ears? After 2 weeks T is there to stay. Dont PANIC, DONT PANIC! Because yours will reduce to mild tinnitus.

 

let me guess..perfect hearing?

 

I was told that there were no problems. But as you know, they only test the frequencies corresponding to human voice.

 

Did you do DPOAE? My hearing was perfect back in October but dpoae revealed I damaged cochlea cells. I have damaged even more of them this year.

 

I had to google it. I don't think I ever had that done.

 

I'm trying not to, but I just feel so robbed of hope. I'm 30, and I have it in my right ear only.

 

I have it on the left ear and I am 28. Last year I graduated college and you can imagine. I dont want to scare you but Tinnitus rewires the brain. I have developed visual conditions because of T.
DOnt worry it will reduce to mild in 3-5 months. Please do an audiogram (even in high frequencies) and DPOAE if you can.

 

You are so early into this. You need to wait at least till Xmas to see what will happen? Please refrain from using blender, vaccum, going to loud bars, loud resturants, concerts, cinema, clubs, using earbuds/earphones.

 

I saw both an audiologist this morning as well as an ENT PA. The audiologist confirmed hearing loss at the 4k hz level and the ENT PA prescribed me a 6 day course of prednisone, three tablets per day.

I hope this helps. I'm still really scared.

 

About to hit six weeks of ringing. Guess I'm in for the long haul. Still hard to see how I can live months to years with this. Obviously many of y'all do; seeking inspiration.

 

it is impossible to make a full recover after acoustic trauma, (especially as bad as yours)
a full recover on a tonal 250-8k audiogram is meaningless and does not cover the range of healthy hearing.