When You Lost Some Hearing, Did You Know It at the Time?

For those with hearing loss/damage... when you lost some hearing, did you know it at the time?

I was exposed to a nail gun cartridge being exploded when I was about 17 in a closed room. My right ear made this whhooooWWWWWhhhoooooo noise and I lost a bit of hearing in that ear, but that's all, I didn't get tinnitus then.

After my piano exposure my right ear was doing this again the for the following few days and periodically ever since but has calmed down since then a lot and hasn't been noticeable.

Two weeks ago - brief house alarm exposure, plus headphone use with Lenire which I posted about elsewhere. Tonight and other nights I've had this noise again, I'm sure it's hearing damage.

If you've lost any hearing suddenly... like firing a gun or something... did your hearing just get worse or did you hear a particular sound with it?

 

I fired a AR15 and a Glock 40 in South East Asia at a shooting range in 2014 with hearing protection on and after instantly I noticed my tinnitus went up a notch. I’m positive I lost some hearing that day. Hard to tell 100% though unless you had a test right before the noise exposure and afterwards.

 

@Allan1967 I first discovered I had tinnitus after waking the next morning from attending a live band venue with the sound of bees in my head and bad hyperacusis... I could not hear properly when I left the venue but everyone I was with had the same problem so I just thought I'll go to bed and would wake up ok... wrong, my life was turned upside down.

Looking back I now know I had damaged my hearing way before this but did not have tinnitus... I also worked in a noisy factory afternoon shift whilst I studied nursing and back in those days no hearing protection was given out and like you stated a did hear noises in my ears that would just fade away, never gave it much thought... I also had that same noise you describe when a balloon popped close to my ear several years ago, tinnitus spiked for a bit but settled again. I was also exposed to a loud fire alarm in a store years ago and the same noise happened again but not for very long.

Not sure if further hearing damage occurred or not as I have mild hearing loss right ear and just on the moderate line with my left ear....
I might go ask to see a copy of my hearing test from 2002 from the eye and ear hospital attended and compare it to now.

I am not sure it has changed much though, maybe my left ear has deteriorated I can't remember... I know I was told I had hearing loss and just to protect my ears... I did this but as you know you get caught out with noise exposure sometimes.

I Was also told you will just have to learn to live with the tinnitus nothing can be done... there was no Tinnitus Talk then but lucky there was a tinnitus association in my state that had information sessions... sadly that no longer exists they have a website only now.

So yes I have heard those sounds but not sure if it is just ears reacting to loud noise or a sign of further hearing damage... however my tinnitus did settle back down each time

 

I'm pretty sure I lost some hearing at a Motorhead concert about 11 years ago in Exeter - The sound level was insane and I kept having to leave the main auditorium as it was so bad even near the back - I seem to remember my hearing was quite muffled after and even the next morning as well but I don't remember any ringing.

 

You know after the "opportunity window" in which hearing tries to cope with damage and maybe mitigate its effect, expires. Basically our bodiest try to naturally offset the damage caused by noise, and depending on a series of factors, like your previous noise exposure, lenght of exposure to noise, type of noise, decibel level etc etc your hearing will return to baseline in like 1,5 months - 2 months… or you Will realise you lost hearing, if it does not return to baseline.

Basically you have to wait like 2 months to know if a certain noisy event caused real damage. Inmediately after noise exposure you can have an idea of how serious the thing was, but you do not know for sure how your hearing is going to react.

It depends. I think every person experiences a different set of symptoms. For me it is muffled hearing, hyperacusis, tinnitus, headaches, neck tension, tension on my temples, pressure behind my eyes etc etc For someone else it can be different but in general these are inflammatory reactions and there may be autoinmune reactions too.