While Wearing Earplugs and Earmuffs, I Was Exposed to Loud Bang Outdoors — Concerns Over Hyperacusis

I had to leave my apartment for a short while earlier today and of course I was exposed to sudden noise.

It was a loud bang, like a firecracker of some kind, and I think it was pretty close, I could feel the vibrations. Probably one of those ”bangers”.

I wore earmuffs and foam earplugs that were not 100% inserted.

It's hard to say if my tinnitus has spiked as it goes up and down so much. I got a burning sensation in my bad ear but that is something that comes every now and then as well. At least I got one of the worst fight or flight responses I ever felt.

I don't know what I want to achieve with this post, maybe some thoughts or input from people with similar experience. I just feel so hopeless and I'm frightened of the eventual setback in hyperacusis.

I took 1000 mg of NAC. Anything else to consider?

 

Start with congratulating yourself on wearing double protection. Most people would have taken the full force of the bang flatfooted. Time will tell if your tinnitus will be affected, but you've increased your chances enormously.

I suggest you keep taking NAC for a week or so. Adding Magnesium might be a good idea.

 

Earmuffs and plugs?

I think you’re just mad and stressed, no harm done!

 

Unless you hear brand new tones, no not really anything.

 

Chill. I get the same anxiety issues, I hear car horns or fireworks nearby and panic for the rest of the day that I have damaged my hearing. It is just our anxiety. You even had ear protection, you will be fine.

 

Yeah, I learned the hard way that never leaving home without protection is the only way for me.

Taking liquid Magnesium as well.

I do that all the time as well but this was on another level I would say.

Two days later and I feel my tinnitus is more bothersome and my ears feel sore.

Thanks for the replies!

 

My tinnitus really is louder now.

Thinking of trying to get some Prednisone or similar. Is that something any of you would do in this situation?

 

This has happened to me before, while wearing earplugs and earmuffs too. If you have bad hyperacusis, you can get a setback despite the double hearing protection.

The way you describe this incident does not sound good, the kind of sound, estimated distance, burning sensation, fight or flight response.

Give your ears a good rest for 3 weeks meaning taking zero risk of another incident like that, because it would add up badly to the situation.

When this happened to me I used Deflazacort 30 mg, one pill per day, for 10 days. It did not do much, but was better than nothing... also, try to calm down, as the fight or flight response puts your body on edge and stresses the whole nervous system, which is no good for ears.

 

I’m still more sensitive to sound and there is a weird mid frequency sound that is trying to ”break in” if that makes sense. When I use earplugs it becomes very noticable.

I could not get a doctor appointment until Tuesday. It will be 11 days after the incident, is steroids out of the question by then?

 

I did see recently someone started Prednisone 14 days after the noise trauma and even after that delay they still greatly benefited... I hope it helps you.

 

For steroids, the sooner, the better. It's kind of late after 11 days, although there can be individual differences in how the body responds to steroids. Ask the doctor what's his or her opinion on steroids...

 

I could not get any steroids. I got my hearing measured up to 8000 Hz and since that looked ok, the conclusion was no damage had been done... Of course SSRI medication was proposed...

On top of this, lightning struck a few meters from my home the other day. No worsenings from that at least but it was pretty loud, thankfully I put on earmuffs as soon as I heard distant thunder.

 

Why is it too late to take steroids after a certain amount of days? Isn’t the inflammation still there?

 

They say to take Prednisone as soon as possible after an acoustic trauma because the build up of oxidative stress will cause damage from the moment of trauma until 7-14 days, then it will have done all the damage it can do.

Yes, some improve even after months although that suggests another additional cause for the tinnitus. For example, allergies?

Some also get temporary effects like with benzo.

For most, myself included, nada effects.

 

An audiometric test is very basic, and cannot measure the quality of hearing. It can measure, at best, the amount of input of sound, but not what your hearing system or your brain does with that input (this is the quality of sound perceived). It is a very important difference.

 

Yes, I understand that thanks to reading Tinnitus Talk.

I have asked about extended testing a few times at audiologists/ENTs and they react like it's and odd question and say it is not really important.

 

Actually high frequencies are key to understanding speech in noise, so they are key to quality of hearing.

 

Small update:

The new sound I started hearing after this disappeared.

During the last weeks I’ve started hearing two new sounds without any real loud exposure. I don’t know if it’s related to this incident. Seems to be triggered by certain things and it basically comes and goes during the day.

Hyperacusis is as bad as ever.

I’ve read some articles about ”bangers” and found these results of a test made by Totalförsvarets forskningsinstitut, FOI in Sweden:

One meter distance: 172 dB
Five meters distance: 155 dB
Ten meters distance: 147 dB

I won’t even write what I think about people who use these in public.