Buzzer from Haircut. Anything to Take to Protect Further Hearing Loss?

[jdjd09]

So, I got a haircut today and had the buzzer near my ear and it was quite loud. So much that my ear started to make a new noise, which concerned me.

Is there anything I should take tonight to prevent more hearing loss? That happened this evening. I took NAC tonight to see if that may prevent further loss. Also going to take magnesium.

Anything else I should do for now? I tested me hearing and it appears to be within the same range as before tonight.

Any ideas?

 

[Alue]

I doubt a hair clipper/buzzer would be loud enough to cause hearing loss. I seriously doubt it would even be over 85 dB.

Actually, I have one at home, I just tested it with a db meter and it's around 58-60 dB right up against the meter. It's a fairly quiet one and the one used on you may have been louder, but it would have to be many times louder to cause any sort of damage.

 

[jdjd09]

Yeah, I'll be honest, I know the clipper was above 85db and right by my ear. I realize they're are quiet ones, but this is one of those barber shops with the older but professional equipment. Meaning, the stuff works damn well, but it's also not necessarily "silent/quiet" version of said thing either. Kind of like a professional vacuum used by certain business's. The thing does the job a high end vacuum would do, but it's not going to have the bells and whistle's on it (and it's probably going to be louder and not be designed to be silent).

Anyways, anyone else have thoughts on what I can possibly take to prevent damage, seeing this happened so recent? Not necessarily saying anything happened, but I want to do anything and everything I can do to prevent a possible issue with further hearing loss or any other damage.

 

[Alue]

NAC and sleep. Maybe vitamin C and magnesium.

I don't know if any of the above do anything, but they can't hurt.

If it's an obvious trauma prednisone, but that's usually if there's hearing loss associated with it.

I've been exposed to a lot of loud noises despite doing my best to protect my ears and wear hearing plugs / ear muffs. Some while doing audiological tests. It is what it is. It's nearly unavoidable.

 

[Bobby B]

I always stick in my silicone plugs when shaving or buzzing hair
I measured my shaver and its 80 when real close - a pro buzzer can be louder

You always should carry silicone plugs with you - not the ones with filters - the simple ones that block all sound - much faster to put than foam and when properly inserted they can block up to 30db

It takes me like 3 seconds to put them in

 

[Bobby B]

 

[PaulBe]

Oh JD! get one of those do-it-yourself shavers and liberate yourself from customer service-based trauma. Otherwise, how are you traveling anyway?

 

[i.m]

View attachment 10783

Thanks mate, i was just looking for this kind of earplugs

 

[Bobby B]

I have tried a lot of different silicone plugs and those seem to be the best at blocking noise and easy to insert - they don't look as fancy as some other ones but they work great especially if your ear canal is medium to large size

What I do is to cut the stem out and insert those so the widest part snugs at the entry to the ear canal and then people don't see it - I even wear those plugs at some louder business meetings where table projectors are used just to be safe

 

[linearb]

i cut my own hair, buzzer i use is ~70 db.

 

[Alue]

View attachment 10783

Do they actually make silicone earplugs in large sizes? Or maybe it's xl? I have tried several and they do not fit and are basically useless for me.

 

[Apocalypse77]

@jdjd09 I made the same mistake. Did your spike settle down?

 

[whatdidyousay]

I doubt a hair clipper/buzzer would be loud enough to cause hearing loss. I seriously doubt it would even be over 85db.

Actually, I have one at home, I just tested it with a db meter and it's around 58-60 dB right up against the meter. It's a fairly quiet one and the one used on you may have been louder, but it would have to be many times louder to cause any sort of damage.

I just tested one of my clippers (trimmers?) against the meter (an actual sound level meter and not my cell phone). The peak was 104 dB when holding it up against the meter. Moving the clippers about 6 inches away lowered the noise to around 88 dB -90 dB. Like with the OP, the issue is the clippers being right next to the ear which would likely be peak readings.

I was at a hip downtown barbershop earlier where I also got buzzed around the ears at what sounded like a buzzsaw volume. It was kind of annoying and I mentally counted it to be around two minutes for each ear. To the barber's credit, he gave a really good haircut and was nice. I'm a pretty introverted person and so I didn't speak up about the clippers being too loud.

Not sure how loud the ones that were used for the shaping above and around my ears, but I'd imagine it was also over 100 dB and so it got me a bit worried despite not being for a very long time. Bit worried of a spike, though it could be anxiety. The NIOSH chart allows up to 3 minutes & 45 seconds for 106db and 1 minute & 53 seconds for 109db.