Airbag Deployment Causing Tinnitus?

[Seawater7]

I am wondering if anyone here got tinnitus from airbags going off.

I am worried about an accident and making the tinnitus permanently louder if I were to be in an accident.

I have even considered disabling the airbags, i know that is probably vert stupid considering airbags could save my life.

The fear of getting hearing damage and making the tinnitus louder has been giving me these kinds of thoughts.

I wonder what you think and if you have any ideas about this topic.

Thank you.

 

[Bobby B]

@Seawater7

This has been discussed here.
Deactivating airbags is quite easy but keep in mind that a car crash can generate 140dB so drive safe regardless of bags or not.

And yes there were a few posters and also a link to a study where people with good ears got permanent tinnitus and hearing loss due to bags.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/deactivating-automotive-airbags.17982/

 

[linearb]

airbags might have been one of the initial triggers for my tinnitus, but I certainly wouldn't go back in time and disable them, because i think i'd have worse problems if they hadn't gone off...

 

[Cheza]

There is cause for concern, especially if you have hearing loss or tinnitus already. However, airbags definitely can prevent extremely serious and potentially disabling injuries. As awful as tinnitus is, I would not want to die in a wreck or become paralyzed.

Give it a lot of thought and do as much research as possible. Be sure to check the laws in your state, and discuss it with your insurance company if you plan on deactivating the airbag. It could affect any monetary compensation you receive in the event you're injured in a crash. If someone else is at fault and you sue them, I'd be willing to bet that the defense would raise the issue that you contributed to the severity of your injuries by deactivating the airbag.

It's quite a dilemma. You can also take NAC on a regular basis. There's a lot of info on this board about NAC. The military tested it on soldiers who are most likely to be exposed to loud noise, and found that it did offer them some protection.

 

[linearb]

Sorry to say I was just hit by a truck and my airbags deployed.

It didn't seem especially loud, honestly. I had an earplug in my bad ear, and not my other ear... No difference between ears, no muffling, no pain.

The airbag deployment did not seem any louder than the overall crash.

stay safe out there, kids. I was going 25, 100% attentive, there's no way I could have avoided this.

Edit: note that both vehicles were going 30 or less; I'm sure volume increases exponentially with speed.

 

[Tinker Bell]

Sorry to say I was just hit by a truck and my airbags deployed.

It didn't seem especially loud, honestly. I had an earplug in my bad ear, and not my other ear... No difference between ears, no muffling, no pain.

The airbag deployment did not seem any louder than the overall crash.


View attachment 14371

stay safe out there, kids. I was going 25, 100% attentive, there's no way I could have avoided this.

Edit: note that both vehicles were going 30 or less; I'm sure volume increases exponentially with speed.

That just happened to you?! Are you okay — not just your ears but all of you? I'd be a bit shook up after something like that.

I think car accidents are loud, even without airbags deploying. Airbag deployment is likely always the same volume, so speed and impact placement probably factors into overall volume.

I saw a minor accident earlier this year. It was loud and I was two cars behind it.

Hope you are okay!

 

[linearb]

That just happened to you?! Are you okay — not just your ears but all of you? I'd be a bit shook up after something like that.

I felt fine but speedy until I got home, then I broke down crying severely for exactly 127 seconds while my wife held me, then I poured myself a rum & ginger and called the insurance company.

I'm super rattled, haven't been in a crash that bad in close to 20 years. Hanging in there, thanks for the concern.

Pretty ironic this happened today, after posting in this thread earlier. My arm is pretty badly bruised; I'd probably be more messed up without the airbags, but I don't really know, it's not as cut and dry as my last bad crash because that was a car going 80 into a tree and this is a two car crash where neither of us were going over 30, thank God. If he'd been going 60 in that truck... I'm not here to make this post.

Thanks for the well wishes.

 

[mrbrightside614]

I am wondering if anyone here got tinnitus from airbags going off.

I did.

Ear fullness and BAD pain + loudness hyperacusis from airbag deploy on 6/19. Light tinnitus only noticeable at night. Woke up in the middle of the night a month later with screeching tinnitus. 7 months in now.

 

[Bill Bauer]

7 months in now.

Have you experienced any fading/improvement over the past 6 months?

 

[mrbrightside614]

Have you experienced any fading/improvement over the past 6 months?

Some at the 5th month mark before complete erasure due to a power lifter (of whom I dearly trusted) dropping 425lbs. from a height of 4ft., nearest my bad ear, with earpro in. Since then it's regained its intrusiveness, and my hyperacusis (which had been abating) is back but at a lower level than it was right after the accident. My main issue is with the pitch, less the volume. Hard to know which part of that paradigm is more important in terms of intrusiveness.

I think the incident was more of a setback than a permanent increase, though. The hyperacusis after the airbag deploy was absolutely disabling—luckily, it's not at that level anymore.