Earplug Failure or Bone Conduction? Construction Noise Caused a Tinnitus Spike

[Brooklyn NY]

Hi, my workplace was having outside construction about 30 feet from where my desk is. I wore very good foam plugs, Hearos, 33 dB, which were pushed all the way into my ears.

I sat there for 4 hours thinking I was well protected, but that was not the case. I have had a spike for 3 days which is only now going down a bit.

Is this a common case of trusting ear plugs too much? Thanks..

 

[Earing]

33-7 / 2 = 13dB reduction.

I recommend the 3M Peltor X5A ear muffs with an NRR rating of 31dB = 12dB reduction. Add some good foam plugs for a further 5dB reduction. That would be 17dB total reduction. (I have read the max dual plug reduction is 14.5dB, not sure if it is 17dB or 14.5dB. It is safer to err on caution, 14.5dB)

 

[Astro]

Hi, my workplace was having outside construction about 30 feet from where my desk is. I wore very good foam plugs, Hearos, 33 dB, which were pushed all the way into my ears.

I sat there for 4 hours thinking I was well protected, but that was not the case. I have had a spike for 3 days which is only now going down a bit.

Is this a common case of trusting ear plugs too much? Thanks..

I used plugs only in the beggining because of ear pain. I feel like using ear plugs makes shit worse in the long run. Spikes happen to me regularly. I stopped trying to avoid them. CBD helps my ear pain and spikes a lot.

 

[Digital Doc]

Depends how loud the noise exposure was. It could certainly be bone conduction, and how reactive your tinnitus is to noise exposures. Adding earmuffs on top of earplugs ("double protection") can help as while generally less protective of the noise, they better protect the ear from conducting the noise and vibrational forces.