A Single Gunshot from AK47 Gave Me Tinnitus

[One More Regret]

Three weeks ago, out of curiosity, I wanted to see just how loud an AK47 was without hearing protection. I took one shot (in the middle of the desert) and had a strong ringing in my ears for 3 days.

When the ringing faded, I went shooting again, but wore my hearing protection. Despite that, I went home and noticed the ringing was amping back up again.

It once again calmed down, but ever since then I've had a 3-4/10 ringing in the left ear, and a 2/10 in the right.

Around the 1 and a half week mark, I was prescribed 20 mg Prednisone twice daily for 5 days. I'm currently on week 3 and I feel like the ringing has gone down about half a point for each ear. I also have some hyperacusis, that is triggered by typing on my keyboard, washing dishes, nearby laughter, etc.

I am able to sleep well in a dead-quiet room. The ringing is most noticeable at bedtime, but it is mild enough to where I can sleep. And I recognize that this is huge, as many others do not have tinnitus that mild.

Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, the tinnitus drops to like 0.5/10, and I'm able to enjoy silence for a few minutes until I get out of bed and start going about my day. Then the ringing goes back to the usual.

That being said, I have broke down crying during the initial days at the realization of my mistake. Healing is case by case, but I want to document my experience here over the coming months. I do not want to give up hope.

As for what I'm doing now to treat it, I'm doing some tinnitus massages I saw from YouTube, the kind where you repeatedly plug your ear with your thumb. It helps a little, temporarily. I am also starting acupuncture. I have not noticed a difference after 1 session.

I have an ENT appt in a few days, but am scared about whether the tests they'll run will make my tinnitus worse.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. I want to believe my tinnitus will get better in time, and I want to make sure I'm doing as much as I can in the early stages to promote healing. Thank you.

 

[IYIiKe]

Stop shooting.

Double up with hearing protection if you do.

Try a white noise generator if sleep becomes a problem.

It sounds like yours is already improving. Go easy on your ears and good luck.

 

[Jammer]

Don't try an MRI of your head to see how loud it is either. Take my word for it.

 

[Jupiterman]

Cancel the ENT appointment. Nothing to be gained from it, only risk of worsening.

I recommend against white noise generators. Let your ears rest at night.

Protect well and you stand a fair chance of further reduction.

 

[MatthewR]

AK-47 is extremely loud. I was around 700 rounds of one of those guns without hearing protection. I kid you not, I went through so much acoustic trauma.

It's been 3 months, my left ear is completely dead to high frequencies. I have loud tinnitus.

I'm 24 and honestly I just threw my life away. It was going so great.

I have never ever been more depressed in my life. Needless to say I caught my girlfriend cheating on me on Valentine's Day. Yeah man, I'm just in so much pain. I don't want the hearing loss to be permanent.

Anyways, I pray we can both heal

 

[One More Regret]

Cancel the ENT appointment. Nothing to be gained from it, only risk of worsening.

I recommend against white noise generators. Let your ears rest at night.

Protect well and you stand a fair chance of further reduction.

Nothing to be gained? It's not even worth to get a hearing test?

 

[gameover]

@Jupiterman is right. ENTs are 100% useless except prescribing steroids but these are off-label and chances of helping in acoustic trauma, especially after 24-48 hours, are low. Many people have worsened from steroids.

ENTs can be dangerous. If you go, do not let them do any loud hearing tests like tympanometry or acoustic reflex test. Under no circumstances let them do suction or syringing to clean any earwax in your ear. This can completely fuck you up. They will tell you it safe. IT IS ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOT. The only safe way to clean earwax is manually with a curette (requires a careful practitioner), ideally with a scope.

Avoid loud sounds, but do not completely isolate yourself. Do not do white noise. You can try to listen to music QUIETLY. Try to relax and rest.

 

[Muggumbo]

You can improve with time. Protect your hearing from now on. I'd avoid shooting for awhile. If you do resume shooting, double up on hearing protection.

 

[Ant315]

Keep protecting and give it time, chances are it will improve and go away if it was from a specific event.

 

[Jupiterman]

Nothing to be gained? It's not even worth to get a hearing test?

If you have no hearing loss, a hearing test should do you no harm.

If you have hearing loss, they just keep increasing the loudness of the tones played into your ear until you do hear them; 70 dB, 80 dB, 90 dB, etc.

Do you want a 90 dB tone played directly into your ear with a fresh ear injury?

 

[kingsfan]

If you are mostly only hearing it at bedtime, then don't mess with it. You'll absolutely get used to it in time.
There's not much an ENT can do for tinnitus besides:

• Steroids
• Hearing aids (for hearing loss within the 250 Hz - 10,000 Hz range)
• Maskers
• CBT
• Antidepressants (which can exacerbate tinnitus, but depends on the individual)

Like already mentioned, it seems like the audiogram has potential to cause damage if you have profound hearing loss, but I don't know for sure. There are, however, other tests that do expose you to pretty extreme volumes in even healthy ears, namely Acoustic Reflex and Otoacoustic Emissions tests. My tinnitus was worsened by these tests.

 

[One More Regret]

Thank you everyone for the replies and encouragement. I have canceled the ENT appt and ordered some musician's earplugs to wear when going out in public. I think I can get by without using a white noise machine, but I'll keep it in mind if the ringing ever gets that bad at night. I'm also going to stop wearing earbuds too. Gonna try and live quiet but not too quiet, and hope this whole thing heals in a year.

@MatthewR, I'm sorry to hear about your tinnitus. I can't imagine how debilitating that must be. I'm praying for you man.

 

[MatthewR]

Thank you everyone for the replies and encouragement. I have canceled the ENT appt and ordered some musician's earplugs to wear when going out in public. I think I can get by without using a white noise machine, but I'll keep it in mind if the ringing ever gets that bad at night. I'm also going to stop wearing earbuds too. Gonna try and live quiet but not too quiet, and hope this whole thing heals in a year.

@MatthewR, I'm sorry to hear about your tinnitus. I can't imagine how debilitating that must be. I'm praying for you man.

Thank you brother. I will pray for you also. I think you will be fine. I went through so much acute acoustic trauma that night... over an hour of non-stop gunfire with high-caliber rifles. By the end of it my hearing was horrible, and tinnitus was insanely loud. Now I still have high frequency hearing loss, tinnitus, and hyperacusis but it's gotten better since day 1. My hearing issues are still here, and make me depressed, but with time I hope to improve regardless of what the doctors say.

Anyways, here's my audiograms of 2 different visits with ENTs. It's weird because I get different results at different audiologists but nonetheless the hearing loss is there. This is a 7-week difference in hearing.

I'm sure you will be fine man. By the way, I did not take any drugs.

 

[jjflyman]

I have an ENT appt in a few days, but am scared about whether the tests they'll run will make my tinnitus worse.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. I want to believe my tinnitus will get better in time, and I want to make sure I'm doing as much as I can in the early stages to promote healing. Thank you.

1) Do NOTHING. Do NOT go to an ENT; they can't help and will likely make it worse.

2) Give it time. Your pattern of louder at night, quieter in the morning is a good sign; I think you will make a full recovery (6 months?) if you protect your ears from now on (the rest of your life).

 

[gameover]

1) Do NOTHING. Do NOT go to an ENT; they can't help and will likely make it worse.

2) Give it time. Your pattern of louder at night, quieter in the morning is a good sign; I think you will make a full recovery (6 months?) if you protect your ears from now on (the rest of your life).

Agreed. The quieter in the morning pattern is better. I wish I had it, I have the exact opposite and it fucks me up. I say it is better because it points at the sleep having a healing effect. Time + healing -> lasting improvement.

 

[RocketJSquirrel]

I recommend against white noise generators. Let your ears rest at night.

We'll have to agree to disagree. I run my white noise generator all night and it helps me sleep because my brain is distracted from my tinnitus.

 

[JimmyStrong]

t's been 3 months, my left ear is completely dead to high frequencies. I have loud tinnitus.

I'm 24 and honestly I just threw my life away. It was going so great.

Sorry to hear that man.

 

[jjflyman]

We'll have to agree to disagree. I run my white noise generator all night and it helps me sleep because my brain is distracted from my tinnitus.

Exactly.

I've used a white noise (rain sounds) for almost 20 years now. As long as it's just background noise, it is no problem. Lots of people use noise machines or fans to help them sleep and distract them from noise (tinnitus, traffic, neighbors...)

 

[Fazdoll]

Bumping this thread. Has anyone experienced any improvement? After five months, I'm starting to lose hope of ever being able to write a success story.

 

[One More Regret]

Bumping this thread. Has anyone experienced any improvement? After five months, I'm starting to lose hope of ever being able to write a success story.

I just realized I never updated this thread. It's been about a year now, and the ringing has gone down significantly. Like many others have experienced, I'm at a point where I really have to focus on what I'm hearing to even notice the ringing. It's similar to trying to see the little squiggles inside your eyeballs; it's there if you look for it, but otherwise, it's not that noticeable.

That said, my situation is a bit different since I only heard one gunshot, whereas others were exposed to dozens or even hundreds.

I still get flare-ups when I'm sick, and those moments remind me of just how much quieter my tinnitus has become over time. However, I still deal with sound distortion in my left ear. It's like a peaking microphone sound, similar to that old "Mom, get the camera!" video from Call of Duty. This distortion only happens with moderate to loud noises.

Overall, I'd say the ringing is now a pretty mild issue, though the sound distortion is an occasional annoyance that I'll just have to live with.

 

[Mark F.]

I just realized I never updated this thread. It's been about a year now, and the ringing has gone down significantly. Like many others have experienced, I'm at a point where I really have to focus on what I'm hearing to even notice the ringing. It's similar to trying to see the little squiggles inside your eyeballs; it's there if you look for it, but otherwise, it's not that noticeable.

That said, my situation is a bit different since I only heard one gunshot, whereas others were exposed to dozens or even hundreds.

I still get flare-ups when I'm sick, and those moments remind me of just how much quieter my tinnitus has become over time. However, I still deal with sound distortion in my left ear. It's like a peaking microphone sound, similar to that old "Mom, get the camera!" video from Call of Duty. This distortion only happens with moderate to loud noises.

Overall, I'd say the ringing is now a pretty mild issue, though the sound distortion is an occasional annoyance that I'll just have to live with.

Congratulations! I'm so glad to hear that you've gotten better. Please make sure to protect your ears for the rest of your life and help spread awareness about these challenging conditions to your friends, family, coworkers, and others.

 

[Fazdoll]

Overall, I'd say the ringing is now a pretty mild issue, though the sound distortion is an occasional annoyance that I'll just have to live with.

Did your audiogram show any signs of hearing loss? Sound distortion could indicate nerve damage.

I'm not doing great, but I'm hanging in there. I was exposed to about a dozen gunshots—not from me, but from someone 20 feet away. It really messed me up, even though I was wearing hearing protection.

There has been some improvement: I have less aural fullness, and the vibrations I feel when I speak have decreased. However, I still have four distinct tones of tinnitus—three in-ear and one that feels like it's in my whole head. Unfortunately, that hasn't improved much yet.

I know I need to give it more time. Thankfully, I'm still able to sleep, and the tinnitus doesn't wake me up.

 

[One More Regret]

Did your audiogram show any signs of hearing loss? Sound distortion could indicate nerve damage.

I'm not doing great, but I'm hanging in there. I was exposed to about a dozen gunshots—not from me, but from someone 20 feet away. It really messed me up, even though I was wearing hearing protection.

There has been some improvement: I have less aural fullness, and the vibrations I feel when I speak have decreased. However, I still have four distinct tones of tinnitus—three in-ear and one that feels like it's in my whole head. Unfortunately, that hasn't improved much yet.

I know I need to give it more time. Thankfully, I'm still able to sleep, and the tinnitus doesn't wake me up.

No, I never had an audiogram. The only hearing loss I've noticed is that with my left ear, I can't hear the ringing from old tube TVs.

I went shooting outdoors again with my AK for the first time since the accident and doubled up on ear protection. When I got back, I noticed that the faint Morse-code ringing in my right ear was very slightly louder. So, I decided to stop shooting altogether since even doubling up doesn't seem to fully protect me.

It sucks that you hear vibrations when you speak. I remember when running the sink irritated my ears, and taking a shower would leave my ears ringing afterward. I don't experience that anymore, but it reminds me of how far I've come. It sounds like your accident was more recent? You might just need to give it some time. I take CoQ10 and NAC supplements because I've heard they can help. I can't say for sure if they've done anything, but they're relatively cheap and shouldn't hurt to try.

One last piece of advice: get off these forums. The more I talked about tinnitus, the worse the ringing got. When I stopped focusing on it and just got back to living my life, it started to fade.

 

[Tubbs]

I really appreciate you sharing your story. One rifle shot during an elk hunt in December (earplugs around my neck, FML) was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. Since then, I have had two tones of ringing in my left ear: one constant and one high frequency electric/static sound. It has been a rough start, and if only the high frequency static would go away, things would be so much better.

My experience is almost identical to yours: the gunshot, Prednisone started two weeks later (which helped slightly), still able to sleep, quieter in the mornings but sensitive to noise, with the ringing ramping up as the day goes on, complete regret, and so on. The loudness fluctuates day by day, some days are miserable, while others are much more tolerable. I am trying to figure out if diet might be influencing these changes.

Anyway, thank you again for sharing. I am only a month in, and your story is helping me stay positive that there is a chance this might fade with time. I will try to stay off this forum, but I have been searching for answers about what this ringing is and what I might be able to do to help it.

 

[Jupiterman]

One last piece of advice: get off these forums.

The forum that gave you advice and perhaps helped you make better decisions to aid your recovery?

The more I talked about tinnitus, the worse the ringing got.

It may be that your tinnitus was reacting to your own voice for a while?

When I stopped focusing on it and just got back to living my life, it started to fade.

This is a classic line used frequently by those lucky enough to recover. I think your logic would be true in reverse though:

"My tinnitus started to fade, so I just got back to living my life."