Should I Take a Job at a Plant Nursery Where I Would Be Exposed to a 70 dB Fan?

I have had tinnitus since 2020. I am going on 21 years old.

I have just been offered a job at a plant nursery but there is a fan near where I'd be working the cash register that I've measured at close to 70 dB. I'd be doing 8 hour shifts a few times a week.

I am deathly afraid of another permanent spike, the last one almost broke me before I managed to habituate. Could 70 dB cause more high frequency hearing loss (that likely is the cause of my tinnitus)?

I really don't want tinnitus to limit me and ruin my life and yet here I am about to turn down a job.

I just want to live my life, this is suffocating. Does tinnitus get worse over time, generally? How worried do I need to be?

 

No, not unless you wear strong earmuffs. Tinnitus actually gets better over time, for the most part, as long as you're careful.

 

Agree with @AnthonyMcDonald here ▲

Hearing protection on, all day, every day (that you work) in this environment.

At college I have to sit in a classroom with a server and its fans emitting what I guess would be around 60-70 dB, for seven hours, every day I'm there.

So to mitigate the problem, I wear musician's earplugs (with 26 dB protection filters in) and I'm not noticing a significant decline in my condition (so far).

In short, you're going to have to trial things in order to sus out your own limitations.

The job may be doable in your case, but then again, it may not be. Tolerance levels are unique to us all, except in extreme cases where attending music and sporting events would be concerned (because the consensus should be pretty uniform on that; no tinnitus sufferer should be risking those things if they've truly learnt from this horrendous "disorder").

This has been my (own and observed) experience of tinnitus... in its early stages.

But you'd have to be planning a very short life if you're expecting to stay careful long enough not to experience the eventual worsening and subsequent deterioration that is characteristic of the affliction.

 

They're probably not getting to wear ear protection if they are checking people out at the cash register.

You can always start the job and see how you do. Although a constant 70 dB fan might bother you, you can quit if your tinnitus flares up or you can't handle the interactions at the register.

 

Hi sweetheart!

Have you had your hearing checked?

 

Custom-made musicians earplugs or noise reducing earplugs which allow you to still hear people.

This will also definitely reduce the fan to 50 dB. Only you will know if that's enough.

If you don't REALLY need to talk to people, then using 35 dB earplugs/earmuffs would reduce the fan noise hugely.

 

Definitely like @Jupiterman said, try musician's earplugs, a good 20/25 dB pair will knock the sound of the fan down to a low level for you, while still allowing you to engage with customers.

Amazon have loads of variety: it's just finding the ones that fit snuggly and securely.

 

As others have mentioned, perhaps if you tried it on an experimental basis w/ the idea that it might work? And also being aware that if it doesn't work you could always find another gig. Have you asked management if the fan could be re-positioned since you have a health problem? They might be OK w/ that.

As to your question regarding what happens w/ tinnitus when we age, there are so many variables it would be impossible to say. There are always things that could make it worse, and we do lose our hearing somewhat as we get older, which might make it more difficult to mask it. But you're young and a very long way from that. Just keep in mind that to a certain degree we do have some control over it, and if something makes it worse we should address that. We learn coping strategies over time too.