Did I Just Mess Up My Hearing Further...? Ate at a Semi Loud Restaurant

[GregCA]

I really feel like my hearing is different now and it bothers me a lot :/.

If you sampled your hearing regularly (say every week) you'd have a more objective way of determining whether your hearing really changed or not. Right now you're relying on "feelings", and that's known to be quite unreliable.
Use an app to generate audiograms regularly. They're free.

 

[Tinker Bell]

So would the decibel 10 be wrong then? It was reading those numbers, but it felt much louder. Do the decibel readers not read correctly certain sounds like base of voices or something? I really feel like my hearing is different now and it bothers me a lot :/.

In my experience Decibel 10 reads too high.

 

[jdjd09]

If you sampled your hearing regularly (say every week) you'd have a more objective way of determining whether your hearing really changed or not. Right now you're relying on "feelings", and that's known to be quite unreliable.
Use an app to generate audiograms regularly. They're free.

I do, but the audio gram doesn't go above a certain range. Right now I feel that it hasn't changed much at all that is really noticeable on the chart. But my concern is that the ranges above the audiogram testing are shot now. Like that is where I got damaged.

Not way above the audtiogram test range, but right off the chart by some measurement.

 

[lymebite]

This article titled "Eating out may be bad for your ears" from July 7, 2017 in the Washington Post newspaper says:

"Consistently listening to noise levels above 70 decibels can cause hearing loss over time."

To me, one 40 minute period at a restaurant does not sound like consistently. But, everyone is different and ears that are already damaged may be more susceptible than healthy ears.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...5875b7d1876_story.html?utm_term=.cf3a3b0a6425

 

[GregCA]

Not way above the audtiogram test range, but right off the chart by some measurement.

By what measurement?

 

[jdjd09]

The audiogram on phone goes up to 8000htz, like normal audiograms. I mean ranges at say 12,000htz.

 

[Tinker Bell]

The audiogram on phone goes up to 8000htz, like normal audiograms. I mean ranges at say 12,000htz.

From what I've read here, testing above 8,000 hz is not always accurate. And as we age that hearing declines, even in our 20s. So unless you have a very accurate previous test and did the exact same test, it would be difficult to know whether your hearing actually changed.

 

[TuneOut]

For example, I'm now in my bedroom and a very quiet ceiling fan is running. Decibel 10 says the room average is 49, while NIOSH puts it at 39. Decibel 10 is suggesting that the room is 10 times louder than the other app. The room is incredibly quiet, I truly doubt it's nearly 50 decibels.

An increase of 10 decibels is actually perceived as a doubling of loudness. Phone apps really need to be calibrated with a sound meter to get a truly accurate reading. Normal conversation is supposedly around 60db, but of course this depends..

 

[Tinker Bell]

An increase of 10 decibels is actually perceived as a doubling of loudness. Phone apps really need to be calibrated with a sound meter to get a truly accurate reading. Normal conversation is supposedly around 60db, but of course this depends..

Oops, right: it's double the loudness.

 

[jdjd09]

I can't take this anymore. I was fine after suffering for almost a year. I got used to things. I make one mistake and my ears and hearing are now ruined more. All because I go to a restaurant for 40 minutes? Oops, really?

Wow, I don't want to live like this anymore. I habituated to the way things are. I don't want to put up with this life anymore.

I make one mistake of not putting my earplugs in at a borderline noisy restaurant and I pay for it for the rest of my life. Prednisone isn't helping either. Great.

 

[jdjd09]

No one cares, I can't hear up to or past 11-12khz at all. This is my life. What is the point of this. I just make money and don't get to enjoy things at all and god forbid I make one little mistep and don't put earplugs in or I lose my hearing more.

This is my life? This is what I get to look forward too? No one cares. Everyone around me just says stop complaining. No one cares. Doctors don't care. Therapists don't care. No one cares because no one has a clue what this is like. No one in the normal world does. They just sit there and say, "everyone has ringing if they listen for it". Ok.

Ok. I get no help, prednisone doesn't seem to be helping, and somehow I damage my hearing further over a loud restaurant for 40 minutes. Really?

 

[Fabrikat]

make one mistake of not putting my earplugs in at a borderline noisy restaurant and I pay for it for the rest of my life. Prednisone isn't helping either. Great.

@jdj09, unless there was some kind of extremely loud event that occurred at the restaurant, I don't think that you have caused permanent injury to your ears. You sound like you have a spike in volume due to sensitivity to the ambient noise. It'll take time but it will settle. In future, you just need to make sure you plug your ears in such environments or avoid them altogether.

 

[GregCA]

Ok. I get no help, prednisone doesn't seem to be helping, and somehow I damage my hearing further over a loud restaurant for 40 minutes. Really?

No, not really.
Like I told you before, look into CBT. Your posts are textbook examples of distorted thinking.
It won't restore your hearing, but it can help you a lot with your anxiety and perspective on life.
Good luck.

 

[EatMoTacos]

I have hearing loss in one ear above 11.5k. I can't hear anything above that.

Oh also... I have PT in my left ear which is basically always there

 

[GregCA]

In my right ear I have a ski slope starting at 1 kHz. By 8 kHz I can barely hear anything, and anything above that might as well not exist.

 

[jdjd09]

My right ear is oifterally louder than my left now with a new tone. I also can't hear certain tones now in that ear as well. The ringing isnwere I lost some hearing. I can't beleieve a bar/restaurants that could do this to someone just by being their for 40 minutes. How the hell is this possible?

Should I ask for any other treatment? I got prednisone at 40mg x 3 days, 30 mg x3, 20 x 3 days, and 10mg x 3 days.

 

[jdjd09]

Someone please help me with what to do medically?????

 

[Fabrikat]

Someone please help me with what to do medically?????

@jdjd09, you're doing it now! Take the meds if you must and try and calm yourself. Go out in nature, if you can, distract yourself with whatever pleases you, exercise. It may take days, but it should settle down.

 

[Bobby B]

People would have to run over my dead cold body to prevent me from wearing plugs or muffs over 70db - a safe margin since those Db apps aren't calibrated and won't display sudden noise very well.

Most people don't care if you wear ear protection anyways just tell them you have sensitive ears if they ever ask - I'm sure some people born with overly sensitive ears and no trauma/damage acually do exist somewhere


But even with plugs there were some noisy situations I could not avoid - work related and such and a few times I went back home and T was persistently louder and different in pitch

In such cases I pop 60mg of prednisone asap with some food -I weight 145lbs btw - and load on NAC - 1200 mg twice a day with vitamin C, l- carnitine and magnesium taurate with calcium and have a good night sleep.

Usually the next day it's down to normal just like the good old days of "club T" after a loud night clubbing without protection at a young age...

Then I take another 60mg of prednisone first thing AM then next day with food and that's it - no need to taper down.

Prednisone only works if it's taken very soon and in sufficient amount and even 60mg may be on the low side - if the exposure is bigger i would double that amount perhaps but that's just me, I'm healthy no diabetes or infections and i watch the Glycemic index of what I eat while on prednisone - no sugar no starch , bread or alcohol, fruit juices, pastries etc..

Prednisone has a serum half life of 4 hours and after 24hrs it's completley out of your body at 60mg

I alsways store prednisone at home no time to run to the clinics - and take some on business trips as well

 

[jdjd09]

So what should I do???? Take more? I have 90mg prednisone left? Should I stick with what doctor prescribed or do something else?

 

[Bobby B]

Also - forgot to add one more very important thing I do - high Frequncy low volume sound therapy to give those hair cells better healing - we have good scientific studies with double blind showing mice hair cells in much better shape when exposed to normal sound after a trauma vs sound insulation.

For this I use my iPhone6 and play myNoise "summer night" crickets all night long - on speaker no earbuds - I am pretty sure this helps as well

 

[Bobby B]

@jdjd09
Are you the same poster who wrote lengthy stories on "offing" himself after work about a year ago ?

 

[Sam Bridge]

@jdjd09
Are you the same poster who wrote lengthy stories on "offing" himself after work about a year ago ?

Yea pretty sure thats him

 

[jdjd09]

@jdjd09
Are you the same poster who wrote lengthy stories on "offing" himself after work about a year ago ?

I wa in a bad place back then. Then I became ok. Then this happened. I want to know exactly what I should be doing since this happened last Friday. What do I do? In my situation, what do I do?

 

[Bobby B]

@jdjd09
Read all the info and make a decision on Your own - I wrote what I would do but that's just me

It's not like we have so many options that get us confused

And add LLLt therapy with cheap / high power LED to that - of course

Be thankful you even received prednisone - in the U.K. They wouldn't even give it to you in most places, and these guys have long waiting lists to even get in front of an ENT

 

[jdjd09]

I'm not in the U.K., I am in the USA. I am seeing ent today to get hearing test and see what else I can do or if they have suggestions or thoughts. I don't know why I'm doing this. It may be waste of time.

The problems is that I truly don't know all the steps I need to take. I really am not well educated on everything I need to do. I took NAC after it happened and vitamin E. I got the prednisone the following day. I also took some magnesium a couple days after. I take multivitamins too.

I don't know what else one can do in my situation ?

Will I recover in the next couple of weeks from this?

 

[GregCA]

The problems is that I truly don't know all the steps I need to take. I really am not well educated on everything I need to do.

I don't know what else one can do in my situation ?

CBT (third time I'm suggesting this to you - I am beginning to wonder if you really are open to advice). Ask the doctor you are seeing today about it.

 

[brownbear]

I agree with Greg. You appear to be overly fixated on an event that almost certainly would not lead to significant hearing damage and very concerned about extremely high frequency hearing losses that are well beyond speech frequencies. Not to say your T hasn't escalated and I am of course sorry to hear that. Think you need to look at strategies to help you stop catastrophising.

 

[jdjd09]

I went to audiologist and ent. Audiologist audiogram shows hearing loss as it wa before, except one frequency in right ear. That frequency was close to 0 and now it's at 15 db. However, the 0db reading before was an outlier from the other frequencies and doctor thought it may have been possibly a one off somehow. As it didn't match the others well.

Otherwise all frequencies in right ear are above 20db. Left ear matches just as it didnbefore.

They didn't recommend I really do much and just said cycle off prednisone when your done with it. Not much else to do.

So I may have lost hearing at one frequency, but possibly not. It depends on accuracy of other autogram.

What are the chances of prednisone bringing back that frequency or healing my hearing. How long do result take to show up?

 

[jdjd09]

So I also got a actual db reader that is accurate. The db would have probably been between 85 and 90db sustained. Db 10 seems to be slightly underperforming by that in some areas.

Does that change things at all?