Being Exposed to Sound of Small Hammer Caused Ear Pain

Hey, so this just happened - My partner was putting some soundproofing thing on our front door, ironically enough, and he hammered something into the door with me right in the other room. I got immediate ear pain in my more injured ear. I was in the bedroom with the door closed but I was only about 10 feet away from the hammering.

I have not felt ear pain in a long time. That is not my normal response with hyperacusis. Feeling pretty disheartened right now. The weird thing is it was a small hammer and he put a towel between the hammer and the wood to dampen the sound. I don’t think the decibels were that loud where I was but it seems like the force hurt my ear. Is this possible? Is it possible that me realizing he was hammering something caused me to freak out and the ear pain is just psychological?

Just feeling really worried because I’m anxious about sounds frequently and I don’t ever remember getting pain as a panic/anxiety response to sound.

 

Hyperacusis is tricky. Sometimes there are sounds at a lower volume that have a similar pitch to really loud and dangerous sounds, and our ears over react. If there is high frequency hearing loss, this is more likely to happen. Like you would hear a small engine, or a vacuum cleaner, and it would trigger a reaction similar to our ears being exposed to a chainsaw.

As for the vibration, the bangs of a hammer may produce fluttering, thumps or spasms in hyperacusic ears. If you have anxiety your jaw, neck, shoulders, everything will tense up and add to the ear reaction, amplifying it.

 

@Juan, thank you. That resonates. I do have a little dip in my hearing around 4 kHz which correlates with high frequency loss. Thank you again.

 

Hello @SaraK18, don’t worry, I am sure you will be fine, I have had similar with doors slamming etc.

These things happen and because you are still in a hyper vigilant mode, the sound and psychological impact is magnified. You will be ok, I’m sure x

Worrying makes it worse.

Carry on with your sound therapy and it will get better x

Sending hugs x

 

Thanks @Eleanor89, I appreciate it. It seems to be settling so I’m grateful for that.

 

Hi all on this thread.

@SaraK18, I can totally empathise with your experience. You know your limits, take all the precautions in life, and then a minor event which you seemingly would think would not have an effect... does! Hoping your ear health improved back to pre-event? I had just recovered from one of these very recently and now I am back on here. Hoping for some advice and support.

My partner and I live in a very quiet flat. However, we have a new downstairs neighbour who is slowly moving in and they keep letting their door slam every time. It was at least 10 times this Wednesday while I was working from home. I could only get to my ear protection after a number of slams Now, my good ear (!) is feeling full, the tinnitus has spiked and getting mild nerve discomfort in my cheek. My bad ear has mild noxacusis so these are symptoms I am sadly used to but has not reacted! I clocked a slam at 54 dB with my NIOSH decibel reader. It does sound louder and our floor vibrates with the slam.

@Eleanor89, you said you have had a few door slam experiences. Did yours resolve in time?

Trying to keep in quiet and carry on. Just feeling really unlucky that this has happened and missing my previous neighbour who was so quiet!

Could a number of random sudden noises cause lasting damage? Or does this sound like the parasympathetic nervous system being too stimulated? Could it be the vibrations!?!

@Juan, all what you said in the thread makes sense! Very useful.

 

You should try speaking to your new neighbours.

If they've just moved in, I doubt they want to upset people.

 

Hi @Jupiterman.

I really hope so. They seemed pleasant enough as we have met them once. I’m going to speak to them when I know they are next here. Any advice how to politely say this? Been coming up with various scripts in my mind.

 

Hey @Jenny_S, thankfully my hyperacusis did settle down in a couple of weeks.

I also had issues with neighbors slamming doors. My husband explained my injury to my neighbors and asked that they close the doors quietly. I live on the 2nd floor and the echo of the door shutting loudly is jarring and shakes my place.

For me, a sudden abrupt sharp sound can upset my ears, even if it doesn't clock in as being loud on a decibel reader. Is that really hurting me? Is it mostly a sympathetic response? I don't know. I think that continuous upsets to the nervous system increase inflammation, and inflammation is linked to this ear condition. So I try to avoid getting my nervous system too rattled although I live in a big city so it's not always something I am able to achieve.

I would think that something that far away would not cause lasting damage to your ears, just more of a temporary upset.

I don't see any reason why you have to suffer through it with your new neighbors. Maybe if they understood what you are going through they would be mindful of the noise. It's not a huge inconvenience to them to close a door quietly.

Feel better!

 

"Hi, I'm not sure if you are aware, it took me a while after moving in, but the doors in these flats can cause a huge noise for neighbours if they are allowed to slam shut.

I've got an impairment with my ears that causes me long lasting discomfort and even pain after loud noises. I hope it's not asking too much if you could try and close your front door a bit quieter? I would be very thankful."

 

Hi @SaraK18, so glad to hear that your ears improved after the hammer incident. I’m hoping that time and quiet will help me too. And the odd glass of wine.

Thanks for sharing your experience with noisy neighbours as it sounds similar to what I am going through now. My partner advised that we tell them about my ear health so am going to do that. I’m hoping they understand and that I don’t expect them to be tiptoeing around their new place. Just quietly close their front door. I hope your neighbours did after your husband explained?

Yea, I agree with everything you said about sudden noises, even though not loud, and inflammation. Putting it down to the fight or flight mode. I think we can be subconsciously still so focused on our ears that it causes this. My partner often says I notice sounds that he doesn’t pick up on until I say. He also has had noise-induced tinnitus for years now and never thought much about it (lucky bugger!)

Wishing you a quiet day in your noisy city!

It’s polite, no attacking and explains the situation! I’m going to memorise it now. Thank you @Jupiterman.

 

Thanks @Jenny_S. He had to ask twice, but they did stop doing it. Our hallway is such an echo chamber that even if they pushed it shut (but didn't slam) it was still loud. Now they consciously close it quietly, and that helped a lot.

And yes to the odd glass of wine. Cheers