When I got home in more quiet, all the T tones came out from hiding and are aggravated/spiked with more energy and harshness, but not really loudness. If this calms down over the evening and by tomorrow AM, could I assume an occasional gathering like that is safe?
Tinnitus Talk Support Forum
Yes. Over time the occasional gathering will be fine.
@ErikaS, Ill admit, I got confused because I hear my reactive tinnitus everywhere, I hear it clearly in stores too so I imagined if I went to even just a small birthday party, I would be hearing my reactive tinnitus over everything but You say you couldn't hear it there, I geuss cause it's high pitched.
@ErikaS, I'm not saying I don't believe you have reactive tinnitus cause I do , I just never experienced hissing reactive T, only tonal reactivity. I heard from a few people that sometimes they don't hear their hissing reactive T reacting but they can "feel" it reacting? Is that how it is for u?
@ErikaS Life (and ears) is fragile, and in the end nothing is safe. Only you would now what feels "safe" for you and your situation. That being said, I've been to numerous birthday parties, and I've been fine. That doesn't mean that it doesn't come with "a price" - it does. Temporary spikes and fatigue, yes. But they come down every time.
What about wearing musicians earplugs at such gatherings? They can reduce external noise by 20db but still maintaining fidelity of sound. Of course this protects your hearing, to a degree, as well.
Even safer thing to do, depending on how seriously you want to get better, is not to go to such events for now. There is always a chance...
Even safer thing to do, depending on how seriously you want to get better, is not to go to such events for now. There is always a chance...
@Ava Lugo Its all confusing for me so I totally get you asking. My reactivity is mainly characterized by my tinnitus changing quality/going high pitch & having more intrusiveness. I don't have the "battling" loudness reactivity unless something constant & louder is running like shower or car. That will make hissy tea kettle go in R ear and I get distortions, but all calm down or stop once constant sound stops. (1/2)
@Jupiterman I do carry those all times in case needed. When I came home, ears were back to their "normal" state within an hour. I totally understand what you're saying, however my T did not come on by noise trauma, so if I'm not seeing or hearing worsening taking small steps, better in my mind to try little by little rather than have my brain live in the fear and create even stronger negative feedback loops.(1/2)
@Jupiterman I know it's all such a delicate balance, and everyone's situation is very individual. I have yet to have sound make me permanently worse, only thing that has made me notably worse is getting sick. Maybe because I got this from ear infection so viral load is my weak point? Who knows, I had a mouse trap go off right near L ear 2 weeks ago, and no worsening.
@ErikaS Ah I see, so your T is reactive to things such as showers, fans, AC, and cars which will immediately react to the noise when heard. This usually calms down for most people as time goes by. If you are hearing distortions of a added sound like church bells or wine glass humming this usually calms down in time also
As for The spike after the party, I like to refer to this as "winding up tinnitus".. your ears have a threshold of how much noise they can tolerate before throwing a fit. Yours calmed down after one hour which is pretty good. The overall goal is to build that tolerance more so you can be exposed to more sound with little to no spike afterwards.sound enrichment tends to boost this threshold for some but not all
Now this is where it gets tricky. I reference the rubber band effect, like a rubber band you can stretch it pretty long but eventually it will snap. Same thing with our ears and our condition, we can push them but we don't wanna push to hard. For some people they pushed it and developed nox (pain to sound) so you have to find the right balance: but overall I feel hopeful for you and I hope continued improvements 