Tinnitus Spikes on Long Car Trips

[Mark Griffin]

Hi all,

Did a little test over the weekend. I traveled up to my brothers house by car on Friday which is a 2 hour trip. On long car journeys my T always increases and takes a while to settle down afterwards. I went up there without any ear protection (110 db in car). I put plugs in to come back today, T spike was identical. This must rule our sound entering the ear as the cause and perhaps bone vibration, seated position maybe? Has anyone any thoughts on this?

Cheers

Mark

 

[Rube]

Hi all,

Did a little test over the weekend. I traveled up to my brothers house by car on Friday which is a 2 hour trip. On long car journeys my T always increases and takes a while to settle down afterwards. I went up there without any ear protection (110 db in car). I put plugs in to come back today, T spike was identical. This must rule our sound entering the ear as the cause and perhaps bone vibration, seated position maybe? Has anyone any thoughts on this?

Cheers

Mark

Ive done quite a few 6 hours trips. The first one I only used some cotton in my ears and damn my t was spiking that evening. Then i tried over the ear muffs and found they are not good either as all vibration from the road translated directly into my ears. Now i just use etymotics ear plugs and have no issues at all. Although I make sure i take a break in the middle of the trip and take out the plugs for a while to let my ears breathe!

 

[Mad maggot]

Perhaps pressure? Like if the car is going up or down hills. Are you driving? I get very tense muscles from driving and that can create somatic T.

 

[Mark Griffin]

Ive done quite a few 6 hours trips. The first one I only used some cotton in my ears and damn my t was spiking that evening. Then i tried over the ear muffs and found they are not good either as all vibration from the road translated directly into my ears. Now i just use etymotics ear plugs and have no issues at all. Although I make sure i take a break in the middle of the trip and take out the plugs for a while to let my ears breathe!

Yes, bone conduction is a possibility i guess. My T is not hearing based so it could be messing with muscles etc.

Perhaps pressure? Like if the car is going up or down hills. Are you driving? I get very tense muscles from driving and that can create somatic T.

Not driving, i sit as comfortable as possible and try to relax face and neck muscles. Nothing helps.

 

[Rube]

Yes, bone conduction is a possibility i guess. My T is not hearing based so it could be messing with muscles etc.



Not driving, i sit as comfortable as possible and try to relax face and neck muscles. Nothing helps.

What kind of ear plugs did you use?
Also, How did you measure 110db? was that with windows open and radio on? Using my android phone, i get 75-85db steady highway cruising, depending on the road surface. The higher db ratings are over concrete road surface not asphalt. Not sure how accurate the app is, but seems about right i guess.

 

[Mark Griffin]

What kind of ear plugs did you use?
Also, How did you measure 110db? was that with windows open and radio on? Using my android phone, i get 75-85db steady highway cruising, depending on the road surface. The higher db ratings are over concrete road surface not asphalt. Not sure how accurate the app is, but seems about right i guess.

Just used 35db foam earplugs. Used etymotics type ear plugs before on shorter distance trips which don't seems to make a difference. Use 2 separate apps on the phone which measure the same. I have the window open a lot with concrete sections on the motorway.

 

[Rube]

@Mark Griffin I would think the 35db plugs if inserted properly would reduce the sound enough to not cause a spike. Maybe you are sensitive to the vibrations from the road surface as you suspect.

 

[Mark Griffin]

@Mark Griffin I would think the 35db plugs if inserted properly would reduce the sound enough to not cause a spike. Maybe you are sensitive to the vibrations from the road surface as you suspect.

Yeah i thought it may be that, either that or a postural issue with being seated for so long.

 

[Rube]

Yeah i thought it may be that, either that or a postural issue with being seated for so long.

can you try a different car, see if you have the same results?

 

[Mark Griffin]

can you try a different car, see if you have the same results?

Not done that yet although i suspect the same issue would occur.

 

[Street Spirit]

I have same issues..sucks.

I heard Bose noise cancelling headphones work well..though good luck not getting caught wearing them while driving lol..

of course there are the newer ear buds

 

[Nucleo]

How did you get 110 db Inside your car? Radio blasting at full volume? This value seems impossibly too high.

85 mph with the windows opened and I only get 90 db.

 

[Mark Griffin]

How did you get 110 db Inside your car? Radio blasting at full volume? This value seems impossibly too high.

85 mph with the windows opened and I only get 90 db.

Re-tested it today, got 105db on both apps. I have the window down, road noise is loud, it's surprising.

 

[Mark Beehre]

Since tinnitus I have moved close to work during the weekdays, whereas previously I had been driving 30 minutes to work and then home again in one trip. Now I do that trip once a week Friday night and Sunday night.

I find that with using my earplugs my T will spike some of the time, but not always.

I have also found that on any occasion where I used Bose noise cancelling headphones in conjunction with ear plugs my tinnitus didn't spike. On Friday I spent 2 hours driving, 1 hr to a wedding venue and 1 hour back. Had no problems.

I might add that I always drive with the windows up!

 

[linearb]

I'd be skeptical of an app reading that high; phone apps have limitations. 110db is what my motorcycle puts out at full rev, and it's a hell of a lot louder than any car I've ever owned. Having the windows down is not great, but, again, a motorcycle with a full face helmet at 80 mph is more like 95db, and that's likely to be louder than a car, windows or not.

Anything is possible, but 110 sounds really loud to me, that's like "yelling loudly to be heard" loud.

For much of last summer I was driving 2+ hours each direction to get out to the woods for the weekends. I never had the windows down, but I also never had any change in tinnitus as a result (except for the general observation that it quiets down after spending a couple days in a quiet place away from the city surrounded by natural noise).

 

[linearb]

For what it's worth, I do often notice a spike any time I use earplugs for a length of time; I think this may be my brain cranking up the gain on my audio system over a perceived loss of input.

 

[SoulStation]

You're either driving a Monster Truck on steroids or you got the Db level wrong. I would put money on it.

 

[Xorthian]

Unless you use apple device this is incorrect. Even with splnfft and iphone you cant trust if it gets louder than 90db due to how sound propagation/pressure works.

 

[Gosia]

Even my crappy (?) ; android apps show around 85 db in the car with a window open on a highway. If you look up on the net, that's about the number of db you will get in many statistics. Don't change the car, change the app it's obviously wrong. And I have an old, noisy car. I always put earplugs , alpine with filters and then it's ok, no spikes.

 

[Mark Griffin]

Thanks guys, I will look in to other apps or try a different phone. Regardless, like others have said, i think it's vibration.

 

[Thongjy]

anyone know why does driving cause T to increase? was it the cabin pressure? the road noise? the vibration? the manetic fields from the car engine?