When Do You Guys Wear Earplugs?

hi friends,

A quick message of enquiry!

I am wondering when you wear plugs? I am dealing with sound sensitivity but also with tinnitus which seems to spike regularly. It is bringing me to my knees at times. Right now I have a pure tone spike which was caused by attending a BBQ with 5 friends. I even had plugs in. We were sitting eating, and chilling out and talking. Things seems to get noisy when all 6 of us were talking of when people laughed at a joke.

In the garden there was also some overhead planes and the bass noise from a neighbours house.

All of these sounds seemed to register below 90 dB on my phone app, but here I am with a dreaded spike.

Would you guys wear hearing protection in moments like above, or work through it to reduce long term sound sensitivity?

I had plugs in for a bit of the dinner and things still seemed loud, but I put this down to overuse of plugs and thus my 'normal' being hearing with them in.

Any help and advice appreciated. This pure tone is driving me crazy!

 

When given a choice, I would stay away from noise. So in this case, I would choose to not be present at that event. If I were to attend an event thinking that it would be quiet, I would leave (literally run away) after the first exposure to noise.

Did you really enjoy that party so much that you are willing to take a risk that you will have to pay for it for the rest of your life?!

 

I hope you will begin listening to your body, and acting accordingly.

 

You are not the first person to discover that earplugs often provide a false sense of security. See the first post on
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/learn-from-others-mistakes.29437/

 

What you described nothing was really loud.

 

And yet he got a serious spike.

 

Mowing the grass. Playing drums.

 

I carry earplugs with me. I put them on when I think its too loud. Like if music in the bar is louder than my voice.

 

A small group of people talking outside can not be too loud, especially if you have earplugs in. They weren't screaming in your ears were they?

 

I wear them in the plane, in the metro, in loud bars or restaurants and in busy streets when i am next to a lot of traffic or when there is a street musician around.

 

of course not, nothing is worth worsening the T. With earplugs and considering it is people talking, I thought I would be safe with ER earplugs. Guess I was wrong, or maybe I'm being paranoid. Either way, horrible spike now.

 

No, we are talking normal table noise, laugher and joking. Should this noise settle?

 

I know, so I do not know why this is happening. Should the noise settle?

 

@spikedears I truly hope your ears get better and that new tone disappears. What type of earplugs were you wearing at this BBQ? Which type do you usually wear?

 

I usually wear ACS 26dbs. I wear these a lot though, like most of the time so worry now about their effectiveness.

Scared with all this and feel that I do not know where to turn or how to live anymore

 

I suggest you listen to your body. Hopefully eventually you will stop getting spikes after this kind of noise. Before that happens, consider staying away from activities that give you spikes.

 

Think I've permanently worsened things, Bill?

 

Chances are that this spike is going to be temporary. Note, temporary spikes can last months.
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/head-movement-spikes-tinnitus.25179/#post-290614
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/poll-how-long-do-your-tinnitus-spikes-usually-last.23110/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/poll-how-long-was-your-longest-spike.22099/

So you can tell yourself that this will not be the sound that you will be stuck with (and you will most likely be right). Only if it doesn't fade for three months, does it make sense to begin worrying that it might be permanent. Having said this, if you keep doing what gives you temporary spikes, eventually the spike might end up being permanent.

Try to stay (or to become) calm, and ride it out...

 

I have been reading this forum for 18 months, and I have been paying special attention to the horror stories like your story. Most of the time, T ends up fading. So please don't beat yourself up too much over this. But I hope you that you will learn from this mistake and be more careful next time.

 

thank

thanks Bill

 

I don't know if it was too loud for you or not. If the spike is actually related to the event then something was amiss, though. As far as your ear protection, I tried those etymotic plugs and thought they sucked bad compared to the 33db foams. How do you feel that they compare?

 

@spikedears Have you been experiencing signs of hyperacusis recently?

 

Ok...I have the same ACS plugs, with all available filters (10,15,17,20,26), plus I have the Etymotic/ER style with 3 filters (9,15,25). Also I have standard foam earplugs (regularly use Hearos Extreme blue 33db). Just pointing all that out so you know I am aware of those earplugs.

You mentioned you regularly get spikes and deal with sound sensitivity...this is maybe a little different than my T, but actually maybe very similar (contradiction I realize)...I just may describe it differently. Either way I sometimes worry about the "occlusion effect" when I wear earplugs and talk for a while, especially when I am talking louder than normal, like to get my voice heard over a certain level of noise. I find occlusion is worse with the ACS or ER plugs, but much better with Hearos foam plugs...actually I hate talking with the ACS and ER in, but feel generally fine with the Hearos foam in.

So I don't know if your spike can be from occlusion. I used to think that my voice merely sounded different inside my head with earplugs in, but I guess I've come to the understanding that my voice is literally louder to my ears with the plugs in...like actually more decibels hitting my eardrum. Because with earplugs the sound (your own voice, your own footsteps, or other internal noise) cannot escape the ear naturally since it is being blocked by the plug, it actually bounces back into the ear which does not happen naturally. Just something to consider, I don't know how we choose then which is safer...plugs or no plugs?!

I wear earplugs a lot, more than I wish to. I am trying to wean myself off them in "regular" environments (cautiously mind you), but of course will wear them in clearly loud or very unpredictable situations. I wear them often even though I may need them only for a moment but it is too difficult and time-consuming to keep taking them out and putting them back in...so they end up being in a long time, where truly I only need them for moments (numerous repeating moments) out of that period. I'm really just talking about wearing the foam ones since they protect better and have less occlusion, otherwise the custom style is of course very quick and easy to put in and take out.

I actually was recently at a party much like yours. I started off without plugs, then did put them in. I felt my ears got worse afterward, but I guess I have accepted whatever happened. Lately my ears seem to just be getting worse and I sort of am just going with the flow...I'm not being careless and I'm not desiring worse tinnitus...but just do not know what else to do.

I'll be praying for you, and everyone as we deal with this.

 

Yes, it should settle. It could also be the occlusion effect. It happens with all earplugs, but some are worse than others. What happens is the sound of your own voice is amplified in you eardrum because you are wearing earplugs. It's not normally a problem, but if you are having to shout with earplugs in it can get annoying.

Edit: I just saw the person above made a good post about the occlusion effect.