Truck Air Horn Acoustic Trauma

I was sitting in traffic a month ago when this truck blew its air horn for 1 second. It was louder than anything I've ever heard. The truck was 10 feet away and my window was down. I have tinnitus in left ear now.

Doctor said 'it should get better' but did not give a timeline. LOL.

 

I hope, no matter how you look at it some permanent hearing damage took place during the incident.

How loud was it?, you should get a predisone steroid immediately!

 

Haha. Thanks. If I don't have permanent damage, what good is this forum for anyway!?

Seriously though. Why are air horns allowed? Oh yeah. To scare a heard of elephants off the highway. I think it was around 130-140 dB. My ear did the disco duck dance.

 

Yes I'm on steroids.

 

There is a good chance that it will fade. This might take 6-24 months.
Just make sure you don't get a second acoustic trauma.

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

 

Bill: your link is amazing. Thanks for posting your reply. Very helpful information.

I feel like it my T will fade because after the first 3 intense ringing weeks it began to very slightly diminish enough for me to take my mind off it. The doctor seemed to imply that it would take at least a year for the T to clear up as I am to go in for a follow up hearing test then.

I have used ear plugs for 15 years for vacuuming, working with machine tools etc. The day I was blasted by the truck I had left my earplugs at home.

One thing people should fight against are the increasingly loud sirens, horns etc. in use on fire trucks, ambulances and police vehicles. I remember them being far quieter! And I also remember motorists pulling to the side of the road to let them by. Why on earth do we have to have louder sirens? I am always plugging my ears and I never see other people do this.

Of course, we should ban air horns for regular trucks as well and require them to have normal car horns in a lower dB range. I really don't think they are saving anyone's life. They are hurting people's ears. Perhaps the only place for an air horn is on a highway at high speed. Not when stopped in city traffic as when it happened to me. I almost got out of my car to confront the trucker but the traffic started moving right after the horn blast.