Tinnitus After Shooting a Rifle at an Indoor Range

I had both my right and left ears sore after shooting a rifle at an indoor range.

After about a week my left ear felt better but my right ear developed tinnitus which sounds like low white noise all the time and is getting worse.

I was wearing hearing protection rated at 30 decibels at the time.

It has been 4 weeks since I shot the rifle. I have seen 3 separate ENT doctors and they all told me to wait 2 more months as the tinnitus might get better, but it is getting worse.

Has anyone experienced tinnitus over a couple of months and have it get better?

And is there anything to make the symptoms better?

 

Hello! Seems you are experiencing an acoustic trauma or shock. For the early onset of Tinnitus from sound trauma, what is recommended is to have prednisone assigned as soon as possible from your ENT and take it for a few weeks in order to help curb some of the inflammation and save some of the hair cells. Another thing that could potentially help, is chelated magnesium - the glycinate kind and NAC. Which you should take to help with the soothing process of your ears being freshly wounded.

Keep in mind, protection will be your best friend. If your ears are sore or feel full whenever there is a certain noise peaked at a certain volume, that might mean that your ears are not ready to endure that sound. Over the head protection what you have for shooting might be needed if your ears continue to feel pain around every day household chores, like - vacuuming, buzzing your hair, clapping, certain tones of laughter and garbage disposals, blenders. Be sure to be vigilant with your protection, but don't overdo it either. Wear it when it feels overly too loud to you.

If the tinnitus is going to progress or get better, it may take awhile - but it a slow, slow crawl for it to do so, if it will. Avoid headphones and earphones when listening to music and don't listen to things overly too loud. You might have to ride this out for awhile, but do not monitor it.

 

Thank you for your information. I saw an ENT doctor the day after shooting the rifle at the range. And all he did was check my hearing and I was told it was about the same as it was in 2013. It was bad then and I needed hearing aids back in 2013.

I also saw 2 other ENT doctors and they never gave me Prednisone. I am seeing my primary care doctor Monday morning and ask him about Prednisone. I don't know if it will help after 4 weeks but will ask him.

Thanks again for the advice.