While I Was Inside My Car, Its Horn Alarm Went Off — Spike from an Acoustic Trauma

Hey everyone,

It's been awhile since I have been here. I was doing good the past few years but unfortunately had another acoustic trauma. I was just wondering if anyone has experienced a spike as a result to being exposed to a car alarm?

I ran into a horrible situation a couple of days ago where I was going to move my car a few feet and after I did that, I removed the key and dropped it on the floor, and all of a sudden the doors locked and then the car started to make a beep beep beep sound like I was pressing the horn button. I was unable to open the door and get out of the car, or turn off the panic alarm no matter what I did.

All I could do was wait. After a couple of minutes the alarm shut off an I was able to get out of the car. I was in shock, I could not believe what had happened.

I was ok at first, but then later that night when I went to sleep I noticed that I was getting a spike. I'm hoping that I will recover as I always do from these kinds of events.

I was inside the car during the entire event, I'm assuming that would be quieter then being outside. I checked the internet and the car horn is around 80 dB and I was probably exposed 1 or 2 minutes 3 tops, but I am concerned, what a crazy thing to happen.

Anyway, if anyone has had this happened to them and recovered pleased let me know how long it took.

Thank you.

Louie
Quietatnight

 

Did you plug your ears with your fingers or anything? Do you not keep hearing protection in your car? I have a pair of muffs in the console and plugs in the glove box.

 

@GoatSheep, yes I did try plug my ears with my fingers but like I said, I was trying to turn off the alarm with one hand while I was plugging my bad ear with the other hand. So I had some protection for part of the 2 or 3 minutes, I do keep hearing protection in my car, earplugs and gun earmuffs, but unfortunately I was in my girlfriend's car, it was parked right in front of mine at the time of the event. I now have hearing protection in both cars.

It was just one of those crazy unavoidable things that is impossible to predict, I never expected that to happen and I have been driving her car for years. I never even knew that she had that panic feature on her car.

Thank you for asking.

Louie
Quietatnight

 

I just found out something interesting, I was under the impression that when that car alarm went off I was stuck in the car for about 3 minutes, but I was wrong.

I just did a test. I put in my earplugs and gun earmuffs and set off the car alarm in the garage and I timed how long it ran. It was only 30 seconds, I really thought it was a lot longer than that. The car alarm horn only beeps 1 time a second so that's about 30 times that I was exposed, that's nothing, and I had my ears plugged with my fingers about half of the time.

I just don't understand how I could have ended up with a bad spike? I just don't get it, maybe this is good news that I will recover soon.

Louie
Quietatnight

 

Do you have a decibel meter? I would want to know exactly how loud of a sound I was exposed to. It may have been a lot lower than you think, since you were inside the car. That coupled with the ol' finger in the ear, it may have been a trivial volume.

 

@kingsfan, it's a very good idea. I appreciate you asking. I was thinking about how loud the car horn sound was. Yes I have a dB meter app on my phone. I will check it in the morning and let you know.

It's been a roller coaster these past couple of days, I have had some time when my hearing seems to be heading back to my baseline and last a few hours like that and then it goes back up again. It feels like it's trying to recover. Overall my hearing seems to be normal. I don't think I have any hearing loss or fullness in my ears. I believe that I'm going to recover and get back to my baseline before the event. It's just going to take some time.

Thank you.

Louie
Quietatnight

 

Exact same thing happened to me a few days before Christmas. I had my earplugs in luckily. I had a mild spike that lasted a few days. I took my car to the garage first thing after Christmas and got them to disable the alarm.

 

@Robster, I'm glad your spike only lasted a few days and that you recovered.

Ironically I wanted to give everyone an update, but I wanted to wait a few days before I did to let my ears rest. My spike was bad the first 3 days, then on the 4th day I woke up with almost no ringing at all. I would say I was 95% back to my baseline. I was very relived about that. That lasted that way about 3 days and today I'm having an ok day but not as good as before. I'm having some ringing right now again as I write this post. I have no idea why it started to ramp up. I have not been near any loud sounds. The only thing that I did was drove my car about 50 miles last night. I wore my earplugs and gun earmuffs just to be sure I would be safe. A few hours after I got back home, when I went to sleep, I was woken up with the increase and it's been this way so far today. I'm hoping that I will return to where it was a few days ago.

I will post another update in a few days.

Louie
Quietatnight

 

It's always 2 steps forward, 1 step back with recovery.

 

What kind of horrible thing do you drive...?

An aftermarket alarm...?

Where I live alarms are not too common. I doubt they lock people inside

My car is safe, no alarm and the horn is dead! Even got the parking sensors disconnected so not a damn beep thank god!

 

@Exit, I have a Prius and I have disabled all of the beep alarms like the key left in ignition, seat belt, and backup, but those are just beeps inside the car, and not that loud, and have nothing to do with my car horn. I don't think I can disable the car horn, and I have had my car since 2008 and have never pressed the panic button.

But that's not the car I was in when I had this last spike, last Sunday. I was in my girlfriend's 2016 Buick Verano, and yes it did lock me in, and I could not open the door and get out and set off the horn beeping. I am assuming it was the panic alarm. I know that I never pressed it on the key fob but I will never know for sure, it could have been some glitch in the electrical system from the extreme cold? One thing is for sure, now I keep an extra pair of gun earmuffs in other cars just in case. The sad part is I never leave my house without putting in my earplugs. But that day I was just going to go to my driveway and move her car a few feet. I never expected this freak event to happen. Just goes to show you anything can and will happen. We all need to be one stop ahead of tinnitus spikes.

Anyway.

Like I said, here it is day 6 and my ringing is back and really getting to me. I'm still hoping that it will go back down and stay down this time. I have probably had over 50 spikes over the years and I know how they work. Most of the time for me the first 2 or 3 days are bad, then the forth day and on I'm 95 % back down to my baseline, and it stays that way until the next spike. So I don't understand why it has come back after 3 days of just about total silence...

Louie
Quietatnight

 

@kingsfan, yes I understand what you mean. I know a lot of people on here that say the same thing, that their spikes go up and down for a few days until they are stable, but I guess my tinnitus is different. Usually when I get a spike it's bad for the first 2 or 3 days, then I force myself to sleep as much as I can. After I get 12 hours of sleep on the 3rd night, I wake up on the 4th morning and 95% of my tinnitus spike is gone and it stays that way until the next spike. This has been how it has been for years.

I just have to wait for my spike to settle back down.

Thank you.

Louie
Quietatnight

 

Could be the cold weather yes.

I’ve read about cars in the US on here. They’re loud and rude

Central locking with horn signal and such... My horn just died of old age so just a lucky malfunction.

Hope your spike calms down soon.

 

Update:

Things are not going well sorry to say. I seem to be losing hearing in both ears at a slow pace every day, even with no noise exposure at all, loud or soft. I have no idea what is going on. Now it seems that any noises, even my own voice is causing me to have fullness in my ears. Hearing loss seems to be increasing my tinnitus. Now I'm in a panic and don't know what I'm going to do at this point. I have never had this problem before, in all my years with tinnitus and spikes. It's just not acting like it has ever before in the past. I can only guess that the 30 seconds being exposed to the car alarm event did something to my hair cells that I can no long recover from this time even though I was only exposed to the event for 30 seconds. That just doesn't make any sense to me. I'm finding now that just trying to watch TV at barely audible volumes is increasing my tinnitus, making it very hard to follow. I'm staring to think that I'm losing my mind.

Very terrified, and very concerned about tomorrow or the future, no matter how much medication I'm taking now for the anxiety.

I'm sorry for the sad report but it is what it is. I'm just lost. If anyone has experienced this before I would like to hear from you.

Thank you.

Louie
Quietatnight

 

@quietatnight, I do not have any information to provide, but wanted to send a message of support; you have been so helpful and friendly to everyone ever since I joined this forum; I hope things will turn around for the better for you, soon.

Mystery Reader

 

How are you now?

 

There's a breaking point where the auditory system just can't take it anymore and breaks down.

 

Hey Louie, how are you doing now that some months have passed? Hope you're feeling OK.

 

Hey Louie,

How are you doing? Please do give us an update.

Wishing you well,
Stacken