Tinnitus Worse After Sleeping with Silicone Earplugs In (No Pain)

Hi all,

I’m quite confused, and would love to hear on any insight, opinions or experiences from anyone that may have experienced something similar to me.

9 days ago I went to bed very late and inserted some squidgy mouldable silicone earplugs because my neighbours were making noise from their footsteps walking upstairs.

I woke up 4 hours later with no ear pain or strange feeling, but with a louder ringing in the ear I was sleeping on – this ringing hasn’t subsided in 9 days.

I didn’t worry at first, but now I’m starting to get concerned because the spike hasn’t subsided and I have no idea as to why my tinnitus is now louder in this ear.

My only thoughts were that the suction from the mouldable plug could of caused some sort of negative pressure in my ear, but usually if I experience that it is normally painful or sore – this was no soreness or pain!

Any ideas? And more importantly, it should go down soon, right?

Thanks, as always
R

 

I tried sleeping with foam ear plugs twice due to noisy neighbour upstairs as well. Each time my ears felt sore and developed an extra tone. I cannot remember how long that lasted but I know it went away. I don't know what's the cause but all I learnt is I cannot sleep with earplugs.

I hope yours settle down quickly.

 

Thank you. I hope they do settle down like yours too!
I have always been fine wearing ear plugs sleeping, which is strange.

 

Anyone else have any other experiences?

 

I can't explain or relate to this, sorry.

I sleep with silicone earplugs a lot, for similar reasons. If anything it tends to calm my tinnitus down. Sometimes if I do it for too long it can make my ear feel itchy, and when that happens I throw out my plugs, clean my ears with peroxide or soap, and don't use them for a couple nights.

 

Thanks. I’ve slept with them in for years too with no issue. I’m very confused. They were a slightly larger pair than usual (a newer model), so my only thoughts are that it could be some sort of suction/pressure issue whilst I was sleeping.

 

I only use the foam plugs to sleep, and it consistently calms my tinnitus down. I have no experience with the moldable silicone ones. But know they are less protective.

My thought is either some tinnitus from:

1. An allergic reaction to them
2. Removal was done too quickly and a suction effect
3. A loud sound when asleep and the earplug was not protective enough
4. Delayed spike from some other noise exposure

Hope it gets better soon, but I would not use that model of earplug again.

 

Thanks. Who knows. It’s still really bad, so I’ll have to wait and see. I’ll post an update at some point.

 

Feel better soon, and hope it gets better with some time.

 

Something very similar happened to me. Less than two months ago they began construction on our street. It was really loud so I began using earplugs to be able to sleep at 6 am. Keep in mind I've used ear plugs numerous times over my life. Also, I've never had an issue with ear ringing. For some reason though, after just about an hour sleeping with the earplugs in, I woke up and heard ringing in my right ear. It bothers me a lot when things are silent. It sure seems like the ear plug caused it. I've been afraid to go to the doctor and a bit busy (we went on vacation a week ago). At first the ringing seemed to be on and off but it became constant.

I do have bad allergies. They have never caused ear ringing. I used to have severe TMJ. It did not cause ear ringing. I don't have issues with ear wax. I rarely ever had ear infections. I've had chronic sinusitis when I was young and it never caused ear ringing. I had clogged ears countless times and never had any ringing for more than a few seconds. Basically, my ears were pretty damn good. So, just WTF?

This is not severe at all, but I panic because I have very, very good hearing and this will bug the hell out of me.

I'm actually kinda relieved I'm not the only one.

 

What does yours sound like?

Everyone: Don't click the link if you have bad tinnitus. Also, lower your volume a lot before clicking.

I went through a ton of videos and finally found something that's kind of similar. Mine is like it but lower, softer. More of a humming to it. But mine doesn't sound anything like all the others there. It's at 1:37

What Does Tinnitus Sounds Like? - Ear Hearing...

 

When you push in or take out earplugs that create a seal, you cause an increase in pressure (or suction/decrease in pressure, respectively) on the eardrum/ossicles attached to the eardrum (which make up your "middle ear"). Basically this action causes very mild barotrauma. For most people this doesn't matter, they can insert/remove sealing earplugs or headphones hundreds or thousands of times and never notice anything. But for some people, like me, and maybe you, this creates a tinnitus which doesn't resolve until the underlying mechanical (of the eardrum or ossicles, or maybe even something of the inner ear, who knows!!) change heals. The tone (for me, 1220hz/1275hz/1340hz/1420hz, that sometimes alternate in a morse-code like fashion) used to last a few minutes for me, but with every subsequent pressure/suction (especially if it occurred before the previous one had fully healed), the duration increases. Currently I'm at about a month for a full heal!

If you have any questions, let me know. If you are experiencing fundamentally the same thing as I am, I'd love to help in any way I can, and I'd love to have any more information of your situation you can provide. I'm continuously trying to build my understanding of this thing/come up with testable theories of how it works/what worsens it/what improves it, so I can live with it better.

The one thing I am quite sure about is it's an objective and/or somatic tinnitus produced by the mechanic damage to... whichever. My tinnitus tones for this particular issue, unlike some other tinnitus I have, interact harmonically (not sure thats the right word) with closely matched tones — I can make it wobble or sometimes negate it entirely if I get the frequency/phase just right.

 

@Rust, did your spike from sleeping with earplugs ever subside or return to baseline? If so, how long did it take? I am experiencing something similar right now and it’s been 2 days so far.

 

Hi there, yes it did I’d say just try to wait it out a few weeks.

 

Did you take any drugs or supplements? Or just waited and tried to relax, let time do its thing?

I had tests at the ENT 2 days ago. Frequency tests and pressure tests. The tinnitus exploded after that It was way harder than your examples with earplugs.

 

I didn’t do anything, just waited it out. I hope you’re okay, hang in there.