Why Is It So Uncommon to See People with Tinnitus Protecting Their Ears

I was at a party in someone’s mansion on Saturday and I noted, as I have in the past, that there were people with varying degrees of tinnitus present who didn’t care, or think, about protecting their ears. For me, tinnitus is always a conversational point at these networking type events because I have earplugs in, so I tend to bring it up because I either talk too loudly (or softly) and/or I can’t hear people properly. It’s for this reason that I explain the situation first so that I don’t come across as a bit crazy. Many of the people I spoke to had some form of tinnitus and some described theirs as being fairly severe. One person, in particular, said it drove him insane for a few years but said that he is now ok with it (which is something I hear a lot) but I noticed there was not an earplug insight. I explained that mine was severe to the point that I could hear it over heavy traffic and loud music, etc, hence the need for earplugs and I tried to warn them that the loud music could make theirs inconceivably worse. I know that they will continue to expose their ears to dangerous levels of noise, though, and this to me is one of life’s conundrums. We humans think we are invincible until everything starts to unravel and we realise that we aren’t.

I suppose the point of this thread is to try and guess or surmise upon a statistic as to how many people with tinnitus actually protect their ears in party-like environments and other loud places. What we see here represents less than 0.01% of the tinnitus population. My impression from attending charity balls, parties, and other networking events is that the vast majority do nothing to protect their ears. They just continue on as they did before. I suppose I also fall into this category as I lived with tinnitus from the age of 18 to 32 and I was careless.

How can we convey the message to people that continued exposure to dangerous noise can end very badly?

 

I imagine people just don’t know better or really can realize what can happen

I didn’t realize it either for my first many months - I was generally cautious of louder sounds in general and used protection, but not consistently, only really really loud ones

It was only after I made a bad mistake and didn’t have earplugs on me at a wedding (6 months after getting T) - and didn’t leave to get earplugs due to having fun and being in a social environment etc, and ignoring my anxiety about it and then got permaspiked as a result - that I realized I need to be a lot more careful about things now

But also some people are lucky and may never have to learn the hard way

Sadly, often learning the hard way is the only way people learn - and you can’t undo that (wish I knew all that I knew now a decade ago!)

 

It seems to me that someone I spoke to on Saturday already had learned the hard way, but he still didn’t protect his ears all night even though there was live music being played in the bar-room and there was music being played via the house speakers throughout various other rooms.

My friend who came with me also didn’t wear plugs and hasn’t once since mine became what it is. He knows my story in detail but it makes no difference. Before we went in, he had to wait for me to insert my earplugs as I could hear the music from outside.

I’d love to see what other pro-musicians would do in that scenario. My guess is that most of them would protect their ears in this day and age, but that really is just a total guess. Btw, the friend I went with is a bass player and earns a lot of his money through music. This is the paradox I don’t understand. I’m pretty sure if I saw someone go through what I went through, first-hand, I reckon I’d be paranoid and start wearing earplugs if I saw that person doing so. Maybe that’s a personality trait of mine or maybe I’m wrong and I wouldn’t have. It could just be that my view is biased because I’m the one that suffered unbelievable torment with this condition.

 

It’s easy to say what you think you would’ve done with knowledge, but I think it’s often not true

I mean, how often do people burn their mouth on hot soup and coffee when they should know better (and yet you keep doing it and then saying shit, I shoulda known better)

Tis human nature

 

Very true.

 

Personally, I just didn't know any better. I went to 3 metal concerts this past year in small venues. The first 2 I got away with, but after the last one it utterly mangled my hearing. I was oblivious to the fact tinnitus could get louder. I was also unaware of hidden hearing loss and how it's not just volume that goes down when you do damage. My audiogram shows both ears hear equally in the normal range but my right ear no longer picks up things with the same clarity and I also don't hear things as clearly out of the respective ear unless it's facing the source. I don't hear my own voice equally on each side. There seriously isn't enough public awareness about the dangers of loud noise exposure. These concerts shouldn't be allowed to be hitting 120db. It's a public health hazard. My quality of life has been ripped from me because of a few nights out trying to enjoy myself.

 

What I’m saying is that a good many people don’t change their behaviour even when they know do know what can happen. I suppose it’s comparable to all those warnings they put on cigarette packets about what can happen if you continue smoking. In the UK they put explicit images of cancerous organs and tarred lungs onto the packets, for example, but it has little to no effect. People smoke like chimneys whilst looking at the images. I guess it’s similar when we warn people about exposures to sustained levels of dangerous noise; it goes in one ear and straight out the other.

How do we get the message across in a way that has the most impact?

 

I think one thing that would be helpful would be to get across that protecting yourself (before you have hearing damage) doesn’t take away from the fun, and being realistic

When I discovered earplugs before I had T I was like this is great, I get to enjoy things but am protected (and generally hearing protection works for healthy ears)
You can still listen to music, just don’t blast it on headphones
There are safe ways to go about enjoying yourself, because people will do it anyway, so may as well reduce the likelihood of harm

Just like safe sex - advocating abstinence never worked. Teaching people how to have sex with condoms etc is not 100% effective, but it’s way safer, and people will have sex, so better to reduce the harm

(Also why harm reduction programs and knowledge for drugs are better than the blanket statements of drugs in any and all contexts are bad)

eg if I had known musicians earplugs existed when I was 20 I would’ve worn them all the time, all I knew about were foam plugs that blocked everything. When I finally discovered them I immediately started using them. I already knew earbuds that didn’t isolate sound were bad because of how loud you had to listen to them - but I still enjoyed and loved listening to music. If I knew more I wouldn’t have completely stopped, but I would’ve been safer and reduced the likelihood of messing up my ears - reduced, not eliminated.

 

I have a friend who recently acquired it. Went to ENT, no measurable hearing loss, still had custom plugs made. Then because he has no hearing loss he somehow convinced himself it's due to stress. Goes to a crazy loud wedding with DJ and no earplugs... Stays for 3 hours, no breaks.

My 2 cents: early education. We've had people come speak at school about drunk driving, HIV, and I believe that has definitely worked with my generation. My parents' generation (boomers) are very different when it comes to drinking and driving. I take this example as a sign that early education works.

Personally I find it challenging to talk about my tinnitus and how it affects me. I don't know why that is, but it's what I notice.

 

Yea I agree. I’ve said this many times which is why my wife now raises awareness of tinnitus at her school and many have listened and changed certain behaviours such as no longer blasting their headphones at silly volumes.

 

My question is how did you end up in someone's mansion!?

 

It was the birthday party of a close friend of mine. His parties are unbelievable and really fun. He hires professional rodeo machines, and other crazy equipment, and puts it all around his house which is humongous. The people who go are all well-connected, high fliers, so it’s great for networking and meeting new people. The drink flows and so does the food as it’s all professionally catered. The friend I took with me couldn’t believe it as it quite literally feels like a Hollywood party or something.

 

People get caught up in the way things use to be. It is hard to break habits you unconsciously created for years and then suddenly consciously grab ear protection. We truly are creatures of habit. But do protect your ears. God Bless Peace.

 

You almost lost me at mansion. It's like you had to slip that one in, instead of just saying house.
Anyway, perhaps some of the people have done CBT and been told to go about their lives as normal. Maybe they're just clueless. I'm assuming they're music industry people. They're pretty much the enemy of peoples hearing.

I've mentioned in another thread about putting up mandatory warning signs at loud events and making sure there are copious amounts of free earplugs etc. But I think it starts at the top, with governments. Awareness campaigns, laws around loud noise and like they do with those revenue raising parking inspectors, have noise inspectors with sound meters walking around dishing out huge fines for breaches. They would make an absolute stack of money out of it. If there's money to be made out of it, governments will be up for it - taking from the public is what they do best.

Governments and councils are clueless though because they allow loud public events such as fireworks and you never see or hear anything about protecting hearing at these events. Loud noise is entrenched in modern life and it's invisible unlike smoking. Unless you're like us, who are primed to be aware of it, it's almost impossible to make people understand. It's almost like we need an epidemic of tinnitus and hearing issues before anything tangible is done, but I think that's coming anyway with all the earphones and headphones around now, cinemas blowing people away with high tech sound systems, loud shopping centre music...the list goes on.

 

Sounds like fun. Any famous faces there?

 

IMO some education is out there... except it is incomplete (F#cking loud MRIs).

 

No, there was nobody famous there but there were many local legends. Most of the people there were multi-millionaires and they probably wondered why the hell I was talking to them about tinnitus as most of them talk business

I’m not sure I follow. I said mansion because that’s where it was as it’s nothing at all like a typical house. If there was a band playing in someone’s house, for example, I wouldn’t have gone, simple as that. It was nothing to do with anyone from the music industry.

I agree, and I’ve also said this before.

It marvels me how people just don’t seem to care, and I’m talking about the ones who already have tinnitus. I would never be able to stand in a room with loud music playing, without earplugs, ever again.

 

I honestly think it comes down to a lack of awareness and education on a societal level. Hell, when I first got tinnitus back in 2011 I didn't think to protect my ears and was told by my GP that there was nothing wrong with my ears and not to worry. So I carried on as normal, continued using headphones and going to nightclubs until hyperacusis was eventually thrown in the mix back in 2016. Although my H has remained fairly mild and hasn't been overly limiting the onset was extremely nervewracking and I still experience anxiety whenever it 'flares up'. I had no idea that noise damage could lead to such insidious symptoms

 

Never mind if you don't get it. No biggie.

 

I too was careless. I had what I considered “mild tinnitus” from around the age of 18 until I was about 32. What I considered mild was tinnitus that I could hear just above the TV but not much else. After about 3 months I stopped thinking about it and it became such a non-issue to me that I carried on as normal. I would go to clubs, gigs, loud parties, etc, all without earplugs. I look back now and realise how crazy I was.

The guilt of blaming myself hit me really hard as well. Having that hang over you, wishing you could go back in time, is a huge mental burden for anyone. You have to learn to let go and forgive yourself.

 

I figured you thought I was trying to show off or something, but that never even crossed my mind. Showing off on a largely anonymous forum is pretty meaningless.

 

Good question. I have 3 or 4 friends who say they have tinnitus, but when discussing further I tend to hold back from telling them it's nothing compared to mine. And I don't even rate myself as severe any more, perhaps because of others in this forum who have it much worse than me. But compared with 99.999% of people out there, my symptoms are still severe enough to require me to take earplugs when I leave the house.

 

It’s ok. No big deal. Folks we ALL have bigger things to concern ourselves with such as tinnitus than how someone chooses to describes a home. At this point I’d give up almost everything to stop the ringing and loss my quality of life. Please let’s all be compassionate towards each other in obviously OUR time of need. God Bless. Peace.

 

Yup, I'm the same - my tinnitus was (and has remained tbh) very mild over the years to the point where I would literally only hear it at night so I never gave it a second thought and couldn't conceive of things worsening. The addition of mild hyperacusis and sensitivity a few years ago has definitely resulted in it being an inconvenience in my life. I feel like I have to be constantly vigilant about noise exposure and it's been difficult to get a handle on my anxiety and fear of it getting worse. To give an example, I am already feeling apprehensive about the prospect of attending my cousin's wedding... in m'fucking JUNE!! I was already prone to excessive worrying and hypochondria before all this so sometimes it just feels too overwhelming to deal with. And the guilt just eats you up sometimes.

I also hate the fact that hyperacusis is a pretty niche condition and there's really not much that a doctor can do for us currently. The fact that there is a lack of consensus as to whether we should over-protect or under-protect is really frustrating as well.

 

@serendipity1996

I perfectly understand your anxiety. It does suck that you are concerned about attending a wedding in June in January. Trust me I know. But you have to stop focusing on the future and focus on the present, the now. The mind and ego are powerful and can and will work against you. The mind is the ultimate time traveler that kidnaps for the ride. It will take to the past and future whether you want to our not. It’s the day planner. Please stop beating yourself. Everyone on this forum has felt or is feeling the way you do. It sucks. But please be compassionate and patient with yourself. It sound like you are hyper focused.

I have hyperacusis as well. I was told pink noise would alleviate it. So am undergoing TRT with pink noise being emitted. Honestly, I cannot say it helps.

Does your hyperacusis cause pain or just annoy? Please stop the guilt, it feeds the anxiety which does not help hyperacusis. What do you have to feel guilty about? I’ve had tinnitus and hyperacusis for 8 months and I choose to take a known ototoxic medication that caused my condition. Talk about guilt. But I had to stop beating myself because it made anxiety and tinnitus worse. Please be kind and patient with yourself. God Bless. Peace.

 

Before my tinnitus worsened a few months ago and I developed some hyperacusis again, i didn’t give a second thought to my tinnitus 99% of the time and would go out in loud places (admittedly not often as I’m a homebody), listen to earphones on high volume, with no issue at all. Even sirens and stuff right next to me didn’t bother me, and I never wore ear plugs. Until the fire alarm, since then I wear ear plugs to work every day, and in public when I’m walking around and stuff as well. I haven’t gone to anywhere loud excluding a couple restaurants since it got worse. It really is sad how invincible we can feel until it gets debilitating. I wish I’d have been smarter, even on the day of the fire alarm I listened to earphones on high volume as my tinnitus hadn’t worsened yet, it took til the next day.

 

I mean, I had no idea tinnitus could be... this.

I always got the ringing after a concert that went away. Because everybody got that.

what we have, this permanent ringing, I mean, I had ZERO idea this was thing.

I knew hearing loss happens as you age but permanent forever ringing?

 

Easy. Don't stay for the reception.

 

Part of me worries about peer pressure or somehow 'offending' people but screw that - putting yourself first is the most important thing and doing what feels best for you!

 

Yup, it's a killer but you're spot on. I was feeling very uptight and tense yesterday, was quite gloomy and my ears were aching and I was feeling very uncertain about the future. Today, things actually seem to have improved - I was feeling v despondent earlier but forced myself to go to my weekly yoga class and I think it's helped - feeling much calmer and the H hasn't really featured much today which goes to show just how things can fluctuate from day to day so it's ridiculous for me to be worrying about something that is 6 months out.

I have what would probably be termed as mild hyperacusis so I'm grateful in some ways but it's also quite unpredictable. I'd say my hyperacusis is a mixture of loudness/pain although I wouldn't even say it's 'acutely' painful more just feelings of aching and discomfort and odd sensations e.g the warm/fluidy sensation that a lot of people seem to get although I do get prickling pain sometimes in my ears.

The peculiar thing about my H is that my ears aren't really bothered by regular environmental/natural noise e.g. walking down a busy city street is fine as is going to a busy cafe or restaurant. What really bothers my ears though is anything played from my laptop/phone/TV/radio - I can usually cope with this fine whenever my H isn't acting up but since having a 'flare-up' I haven't been able to watch or listen to anything for two weeks. Even just watching a show on netflix with the volume set to 12/100 so very low has given me a setback which includes the achy, fluidy sensations in my ears and tingling on one side of my face.

I'm baffled as to why this is because I can cope well with other sounds that are clearly objectively a lot louder - perhaps it's to do with the tinny quality or the frequencies are compressed. I even wonder if maybe there's a psychological component at play here whereby I'm subconsciously worrying about harming my ears every time I intentionally listen to something. Just to add, I don't use headphones or anything either. I hope it will resolve soon enough...