Truck Horn

I was sitting in the car with my DH for a few minutes before going into work. DH's window was open and a truck right next to us honked its horn. Until that moment, the weird feeling in my ear that I've had since my noise exposure two weeks ago was only a discomfort. It even seemed to be not as constant as it was in the beginning and I thought maybe it's TTTS and will go away as long as I keep my anxiety down. Then that horn honked and the pain shot through my ear.

Six hours later, the pain in my ear is substantially reduced, but the T is louder. When I first got tinnitus over two years ago, I hoped it would go away or at least diminish, but it never did. It stayed at exactly the same volume the whole time. Now that it’s louder, I fear it will stay at this new volume.

I have read here about spikes that eventually come back to baseline. Does anyone know if this is the case with noise-induced tinnitus?

 

Chances are - it will be a temporary spike. But it might still last for months...

 

Thanks Bill. I will try to have hope.

 

What's a DH?

 

@SugarMagnolia It happened to me today but I had the windows up. I wore no earplugs today. How much db is a truck horn?

 

Dear Husband or Damn Husband (depending on context)

 

I don't know how much db, but I was eventually okay. I did spend a few days with TTTS and anxiety though.

 

Will you consider taking prednisone within 48 hours ? It could help.

 

Can be Darling husband too. Feel better!

 

Do they give this in europe?

 

Unless she has hearing loss, it’s not necessary. As she commented above your own, the author is okay now.

 

Yes, I have talked with @SugarMagnolia, hers was a temporary spike. By the way I have an appointment with an ENT soon to test my tympani and hearing again. The test will be up to 8Khz (Audiogram). I will see what he will suggest (given that I have already an audiogram from a previous month). I try to stay positive because I think it is a temporary spike. I will wait a bit.

If I take the medication later will it work (to reverse hearing loss)? I heard different stories on this. Who knows?

 

Sorry for quoting my quote but I read online that a truck horn can be between 90 db - 150 db?

 

When did you lose hearing? I took oral steroids within the first few weeks and received intratympanic injections within the first six weeks. No improvement, but I had a lot of sudden loss.

 

20/2/18 due to an air horn that played near my ear. I took oral steroids at the start of April for some days but stopped due to side effects. I didn't saw any improvement in hearing, t or h.

I am not sure if I lost also from the Saturday's event. I still have h and t in both ears.

 

How much hearing did you lose? I lost quite a bit suddenly and it was fairly obvious that I had lost hearing.

Steroids do have annoying side effects (including anxiety which can elevate tinnitus), so unless an audiologist confirms hearing loss, it may not be worth the steroid.

 

@Tinker Bell
from 20/2 event:

left ear: 10db at 8Khz 5db 6Khz and hidden hearing loss
right ear: 10db at 8Khz 5db 4Khz and hidden hearing loss but the test was up to 8Khz.

Side Effects were insomnia, difficulty concentrating, irritability and headaches. An ENT gave me the steroids.

I have muffled hearing in my left ear, h and t following Saturday's event.

 

Did you have a hearing test within a few months prior that showed hearing at 0dB for those frequencies? Those are fairly normal hearing levels. Anything within 15dB is considered normal, even for hearing tests conducted on school children.

I have a drop at 6k to 75dB. Now that is not normal hearing loss.

 

Sorry to hear that. No. The ENT said that t is caused by an acoustic trauma in a frequency greater than 8Khz.
I don't know where I can do such a test.

 

Higher frequency testing can be done at audiology departments of some hospitals that treat cancer patients. Many cancer drugs are ototoxic so higher frequency testing is done in case a medication change is necessary.

I had my higher frequency testing done by an audiologist at a hearing aid clinic. Because my loss is only in one ear, we could compare results and it was evident that my right ear had lost a considerable amount of hearing above 8k. But be aware that loss is not unusual at higher levels, it’s a process that basically starts at birth.

There was an interesting study that looked at higher level hearing loss and compared individuals who had and had not had a history of exposure to loud noise and ototoxic medications.

This chart is for individuals without noise or ototoxic hearing damage, yet you can see how even the 10-30 age group has a loss of 25dB at 12hz.



Source: http://ispub.com/IJORL/10/2/4039

 

Good to know. Interesting study indeed. Do you have a list with ototoxic drugs? I use opatanol for my eye allergies (once a day). I've been using them for a week and now I'm in the second week.

 

Sorry for double posting I found two lists: http://hearinglosshelp.com/ototoxic-drug-pronunciation-guide/
http://www.tinnitusandhearingclinic.com/Hearing-Loss-Causing-Drugs.html

It's in the first list. I need to find something else for the allergy ( I was allergic to pollen and recently I developed severe perfume allergy -- my eyes go red and start tearing even if I don't wear the perfume.).

 

I do not trust the first source. Dr. Neil is not a medical doctor. I think his degree is within the humanities, maybe philosophy. I cannot recall. He seems to take anything that ever had a report — even if it’s anecdotal— rather than look at the full picture like what other medications were being taken, other medical issues, etc.

I am not seeing any actual data suggesting it’s ototoxic.

Plus, allergies alone can exacerbate tinnitus or even cause it. I have a family member who has tinnitus when their allergies are at their worst. So without actual data, whose to say it’s not the allergies rather than eye drops.

 

@Tinker Bell I didn't knew this about Dr Neil although the whole site is "directed". I found some data but it is unclear if they used it with other ototoxic drugs: https://www.druginformer.com/search/side_effect_details/Olopatadine Hydrochloride/tinnitus.html

Some developed tinnitus after using them with other ototoxic drugs: https://www.ehealthme.com/ds/olopatadine-hydrochloride/tinnitus/

Maybe it's the allergy. But I've been taking vitamin B and vitamin C, omega 3 and Magnesium Citrate for 1.5 years with breaks in between. I will cut them and eat from original sources from now on.

I found these threads about Vitamins: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/is-magnesium-citrate-neurotoxic.6983/, https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/vitamin-b-complex.3666/, https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/my-tinnitus-is-suddenly-worsening.25505/#post-293770

 

One of the quotes mentioned recurrent sinus infections. It’s possible they took an ototoxic antibiotic due to the sinus infection. Or suffered from Eustachian tube disfunction along with sinus issues. Or that sinus problems lead to tinnitus.

Looking at the data from other sources, there are different delivery methods: nasal spray or eye drop. As an eye drop, it’s not even appearing as a side effect seen in less than 5 percent of reported FDA side effects. That’s reported side effects, not everyone who uses it even experiences side effects.

https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2003/20688slr016_patanol_lbl.pdf

As for vitamins, I am not aware of safe levels of those being ototoxic.

 

I know how ya feel, I'm at 80db at 4k.

 

I still have hyperacusis in my left ear and high frequency sounds sound quieter than before.

 

Had a hearing test today. Got some weird results today compared with the previous test. The ENT said that the results of the two times were identical. I saw them after I left however and didn't asked him about the differences. Previous test (April 03/04/2018 test): Right Ear: 5db .125KHz 0db .25kHz 0db .5kHz 5db 1kHz 5db 2kHz 5db 4kHz 0db 6kHz 10db 8kHz, Left Ear: 5db .125KHz 5db .25kHz 5db .5kHz 5db 1kHz 0db 2kHz 0db 4kHz 5db 6kHz 10db 8kHz.

Todays test ( 16/05/2018 test): Right Ear: 10db .125KHz 15db .25kHz 5db .5kHz 0db 1kHz 5db 2kHz 0db 4kHz 0db 6kHz 15db 8kHz, Left Ear: 5db .125KHz 10db .25kHz 5db .5kHz 10db 1kHz 5db 2kHz 0db 4kHz 5db 6kHz 10db 8kHz.

Any ideas?

 

You have excellent hearing. Anything at or better than 15 dB is considered normal, even for children.

5 to 10dB audiogram result fluctuations are considered normal, too, more testing error than anything. Meaning you could take the same test multiple times a week and see minor 5dB fluctuations. I’ve even taken the same test on the same day with an audiologist using different sources (earbuds versus headphones) and had variations.

 

Nice. The 5db fluctuations are ok, I get it. But I noticed a 15db change in the right ear at .25kHz and 10db right ear at 8kHz. The left ear fluctuations are of 5db (I'm ok with that). You had fluctuations of 10db in the same day?

I mean does the time of the day matter for the test ? (morning vs afternoon and the sounds you were exposed during the day)