Dad Played Video of Dog Whistle and It Killed My Ears — Help!

[shasta0863]

Firstly, DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK UNLESS YOU'RE SPEAKERS ARE SET TO THE LOWEST POSSIBLE SOUND.



This video is of a dog whistle sound, very high pitch. I was 10 feet away in kitchen and he clicked this video and it killed my ears. Speaker Volume was decently high and it made my ears EXTREMELY unconformable, I didnt know where it was coming from. Problem is even at a low volume the sound from video is loud, so combining that with where his volume was set, I'm in a panic over this.

Worst way to end the year. I have NO clue what frequency this video even is, how dangerous...can anyone please provide insight. My T feels louder and I'm just at a loss because idk if it's from panic, as it really does feel different.

 

[shasta0863]

Other people commented that it hurt their ears in the comment section, so I'm definitely worried. My right ear is sore/painful and feels sort of full. I can't make these symptoms up, so I know this has done something. I hope to god my ears aren't further damaged....

Pain is your ear telling you that the high freq. noise is bad for the ear from what I remember. So now I have no idea whether this did do any damage.

 

[billie48]

Don't panic. That is the familiar dog whistle sound in my ears that I can hear above the jet noise in my last few flights and above the raging rapids in the river I fish. It is so densed in pitch that it cut through most noises. I am hearing mine matching to the video sound. I played a similar sound clip to my family when they asked me a few years back how high was the pitch, and every one screamed, covered their ears and ran away. It sounded impossible to habituate to such a sound back then. And it was, as I had to mask very hard day and night everywhere. But now the brain is hardened to the scream and I could go through the day with the scream spiking. It is amazing that the same sound used to floor me, plus my severe hyperacusis. But now the brain just doesn't react to it, as I have repeatedly affirmed that it is harmless even though very irritating. If all else I would use squeaky faucet or waterfall to mask. Life goes on for me nowadays with T high or low.

Don't worry about it too much. You may have just a short exposure. Hopefully your ears don't get too damaged by it. Here is a sound exposure guide for various sounds and time of exposure before hearing damage.

http://www.dangerousdecibels.org/education/information-center/decibel-exposure-time-guidelines/

 

[shasta0863]

Thanks for the reply. I'm not mentally capable of having any more set backs. I'm already higher in T from a wood saw incident 7 months ago.

Last 3 weeks my T has been 50% better from 7 months ago (not back to where it was pre-saw injury) but I was ok. Now it's worse from that video. I know DB levels play a role, but what about the frequency? That video seems very high freq. I was in kitchen about 10 feet away from the den and at first I thought I got new T but it was the video. I got hit for like 10 full seconds. I have no idea how loud it was, but because of how high freq. it was, it seemed to penetrate my ears hard and made me cringe. I had soreness a bit and a slight fullness in one ear. There's no way it was say, 100db+, yet my T pitch is definitely feeling more high pitch and cutting through things it hasn;t been doing these last few weeks.

I can't even believe this...I thought it was the DB level that can cause the problem, but I'm wonder now if freq. plays a major part too.

 

[Cheza]

I know DB levels play a role, but what about the frequency?

I think probably your anxiety about the sound is increasing the volume of your T more than the video. You've got a bit of a fight or flight reaction going on.

My tinnitus has a tea kettle whistle component that pretty much matches the frequency of the video, so I had to turn the volume up quite a bit to hear it. My T did react and the T volume went up, but it will settle down within 20 minutes or so. It's like someone slamming a door or honking a car horn too close to me. It's no fun to have to deal with these assaults that put our brain on hyper mode, but the best thing to do is take deep breaths and keep telling yourself it will be all right.

Can't understand why your dad was playing that video, with a tinnitus sufferer in the house. I hope today is better for you.

 

[Andersson]

My T match it quite well. I actually played some sounds around my own and it lowers my own T briefly when I turn it off.
Same way this video acts. It's weird though. When I turn my head left right I cannot hear the sound at certain angles.
Although a friend without T got the same thing. Could not hear it at certain angles with his head turned.

Anyway I doubt it made your T worse. Right now I am in a increase in T and anxiety depression is roaring with the T.
Some sounds are annoying and when I hear them suddenly I get scared and the T goes up even more. But when I calm down it goes back. In my case at least my fear increase my T 10 fold.

 

[shasta0863]

Thank you for the replies.

I'm trying to tell myself I'm causing it, perhaps like you say flight or flight response triggering it, but I don't typically have that issue (that I'm aware of anyways). I'm starting to wonder if certain people are more sensitive to certain frequencies more than others. I read the comments on that video and some people actually said their ears were sore, which is exactly what I had as well, and still slightly do this morning.

I'm very perceptive of what my T is and how it changes or improves, which is why I was panicking so much last night. Especially since I can be in certain areas of house with same ambiance volume and my T not cut through it, and then it suddenly starts too, I panic even more...probably contributing to the increase as you were saying.

I'm just concerned since I've been in a decent place for weeks w/ the sound, and this high freq. sound made me literally cringe and feel uncomfortable last night, followed with soreness in one ear and T differences...that has me worried. I hate the waiting game, and I'm trying to tell myself the sound probably wasn't at a level you'd expect damage...but it's hard when you have physical symptoms. )=

 

[Gosia]

Hi there. A spike after a loud noise is a current thing but you have all the chances it will settle down. I won't tell you to relax and not worry - I react the same way, but I just thought you might get comforted by reaidng that many people experienced far louder incidents and even if they finished with a spike, it settled after a short or longer period. I assume the noise was short - if it had been another frequency you probably wouldn't have been bothered. Frequency doesn't influence the damage - only loudness and time of exposure. Even if we are all actually more sensitive to hih frequencies.

 

[shasta0863]

Hi there. A spike after a loud noise is a current thing but you have all the chances it will settle down. I won't tell you to relax and not worry - I react the same way, but I just thought you might get comforted by reaidng that many people experienced far louder incidents and even if they finished with a spike, it settled after a short or longer period. I assume the noise was short - if it had been another frequency you probably wouldn't have been bothered. Frequency doesn't influence the damage - only loudness and time of exposure. Even if we are all actually more sensitive to hih frequencies.

Thanks for the words. I'm trying to believe exactly that, but my right ear actually hurt and felt full (even today its still slight sore), many on the comments of that video even said their ears were sore, so I know I didn't mentally cause it. I do wonder if it would of been a lower freq. would I have acted the same, but for some reason this high freq. physically hurt my ear, it made me clench up because it just pierced me. I'll hope it's a spike because I'm coming into 24h with my T pitch higher and cutting through the ambiance I had set it wasn't doing before.

I read this on another website:

"Low frequencies produce big soundwaves that flatten the hairs gradually, high frequencies literally shake them apart. The louder and higher the frequency, the quicker and more completely this happens"

So I wonder if that is why I have pain and if so, does pain necessarily mean damage and possibly worse T. Who knows.

 

[MidnightOilAudio]

I wouldn't worry too much. When I'm stressed, my T spikes like crazy. If you FEEL like your ears were damaged, then you're obviously upset and panicked about it, it's no wonder your T is spiking. I highly doubt it will do any long term/permanent damage.

As fragile as us with T feel like our ears and hearing system is, the reality is that it is quite an impressive mechanism, and it takes more than one or two brief loud noises to do permanent damage.

 

[shasta0863]

Thank Midnight. I also thought like that, the brief noise won't hurt you type of thinking, but after 7 years of mild T and being exposed to about 10 seconds of a wood saw outside my window and perm. increasing my T and hyperacusis, I'm just not able to believe that as much anymore, which definitely affects me mentally.

It's not that it's insanely louder right now, it's a tiny bit elevated in the "level" by the TONE is more high pitched, like the video. THAT has me worried. Having that sound actually cause PHYSICAL soreness and a slight fullness in one ear, worries me. I don't have spikes changing the pitch from what I recall in the past, so it's hard not to worry when the actual pitch changes. I've tried to ignore it today as I come up to 24h and listening to it now sound different and not be masked by my ambient surrounding that did mask it (now its piercing and cuts through everything), has me worried.

 

[Gosia]

How are you today? Do you take loads of vitamin C and magnesium ? That's what you can take for sure without side effects and what can help the possible damage repair. You can add NAC , if you haven't done so yet. Think that even if some cells were damaged, it doesn't have to influence your T for longer than some period of time. We can't know for sure..But what else can you do if not staying positive about it ? Ok, so frequency might matter , but not as much as the loudness..how loud could it have been played on tv ? And very short I assume ? People have spikes that last a fewweeks and then it settles down. I know that until it happens, you won't find peace, but you know..it's really not necessarily there to stay. I once played a high pittched sound at full voume from my tablat right next to my ear - cause I couldn't hear it well. Only after I realise it was sth very; very loud and the fact that I couldn't hear it didn't change that fact. Whether the noise we can't hear can still damage good hair cells or not is still unknown, cause I read contradictory theories. I went through a few days of nightmare, but then all finished ok. I took a lot of NAC though. Same when I was cought by a f...train horn 5 meters from me!