Tinnitus Talk Support Forum

6 am now. Still so loud. Should I have been wearing ear plugs last 4 weeks? I thought I shouldn't overprotect.

Yesterday my daughters friend screamed a loud high-pitched scream as she jumped in pool (30 feet away) and my ear was facing that direction. My kids sometimes slam the car doors a little too hard, but they have been working on it. But none of these things caused me any issues prior to the acoustic trauma. Could these little things now cause more permanent damage?

Are you using sound enrichment when you sleep?

It seems to spike it even more so I haven't been. But now since it's so loud I'm scared to go inside because it's too quiet in there. And this is too loud.

Two big factors in Tinnitus loudness are stress/anxiety and lack of sleep. If you've been experiencing these things, it cause Tinnitus to get louder at times. Try not to worry. From your posts, you've been doing really well.

@Tanni I was actually adjusting to it a tiny bit until Saturday morning when it spiked up. Still at same level now and I slept 6 hours last night. I think the screaming girl must have caused the spike. Hopefully not more permanent damage though. :(

Tinnitus does fluctuate a lot, particularly when you are under stress (and stress takes a long time to work itself out of the body -- even if you have begun to feel better your body will take a while to catch up).

I don't think someone screaming in the distance could have caused any damage -- it would need to be a very loud noise like an explosion, or long periods of a lower level noise. Things like doors slamming and people screaming away from your ear are very unlikely to cause any damage IMO. I think it's just a fluctuation.

Well done on doing better though, that's amazing news! Try not to be disheartened by this setback -- if it improved a little, or you got a little more used to it, you can do that again.

"I thought I shouldn't overprotect"

In my opinion, it is always better to overprotect than to underprotect. This is based on my own experiences, and your recent experience seems to confirm it. You need to be wearing earplugs 24/7 for months to give H to yourself, and then it would be easy to undo that H by gradual exposure to moderate noise. No need to worry about overprotection!

Thanks @Tanni and @Bill Bauer. Appreciate the feedback and encouragement.

@Bill Bauer yes bill thank you for your help!!! It's wonderful to have people like you to guide us since doctors really don't care.

One more thing... What are your thoughts on more fleeting episodes of T?

Some people here have interpreted fleeting T as the body's attempt to recalibrate in an attempt to heal itself. This is consistent with T sufferers getting fleeting T more often than the healthy people. I remember getting fleeting T multiple times each day.

Fleeting T can be terrifying, so I have a rule to not worry for the first 60 seconds. As a result of adopting this rule I have been able to avoid worrying for no good reason. And like I said, it is even possible that fleeting T is good for you.