Flying with Bad Tinnitus and (Especially) Hyperacusis, Experiences?

[Foncky]

What sucks with moderate hearing loss (mine goes up to 65dB at 6000Hz but speech understanding is ok) is that it can seem normal to us... But we would be shocked to hear how things sound crisp if we got a perfect hearing back !

I manage to not think about T when the movie or the show is really great... I can't watch junk any more ! That's a good point. But a few months ago, even watching my favorite movies I could only pay attention to T. Very frustrating.

I'm from France but I lived in the UK for a year, that's why I remember well London and the underground noise !

 

[Sam Bridge]

What sucks with moderate hearing loss (mine goes up to 65dB at 6000Hz but speech understanding is ok) is that it can seem normal to us... But we would be shocked to hear how things sound crisp if we got a perfect hearing back !

I manage to not think about T when the movie or the show is really great... I can't watch junk any more ! That's a good point. But a few months ago, even watching my favorite movies I could only pay attention to T. Very frustrating.

I'm from France but I lived in the UK for a year, that's why I remember well London and the underground noise !

Have you tried a hearing aid? May help with the T. Yeah the tube is very loud at some pointe, glad i am only using it for a short amount of time. Where did you live in the UK?

 

[Foncky]

I don't want hearing aids for now, H would make it difficult. I'm almost ok with the T (well, if you see what I mean by "ok"), the only thing is that it keeps changing (volume and frequency) and new noises appear very easily. Sometimes they go away after a few days, sometimes they stay for good. But I sleep well with no masking machine now.

I was in Glasgow (it's in the UK right ? ).

 

[Ed209]

@Foncky

I've read all that you've wrote and can say you have integrity. You live by what you say which is a very strong attribute that some unfortunately lack in this day and age.

I may come across as strong or even opposing maybe, but it's not my intention in the slightest. My life was disrupted immensely just over a year ago and I found some solice here at tinnitus talk. What I found however as the months went on is that it started to have a very detrimental affect on my day to day living. I actually started to fear going to restaurants, the gym, the cinema etc etc, because I was constantly reading how I shouldn't be doing those things. I'm very strong minded but needless to say, it started to change my behaviour. On a subconscious level I was obviously becoming phobic to different aspects of life because of sound. As I look through people's posts and their descriptions of their symptoms, it seems the vast majority absolutely still can live a normal life. It just involves some adjustments. I post to save the sanity of anyone who is in a similar position to me.

In the end I decided I needed to stop reading about tinnitus and especially needed to leave the forum before I lost my mind. Once I started to live freely again (but sensibly) I made some huge improvements and found I hardly thought about tinnitus at all; even though it hadnt changed.

I don't like to see anyone fall into the obsessive thought processes, that I did, by reading too much on here when in most instances it really doesn't apply. The percentage of people with catastrophic tinnitus/H is not very high. I sometimes feel that when we all mix on a forum like this it's bad for both parties, because the agendas are so different. One side is trying to protect what they have left at all costs, and the other is trying to come to terms with how their life will be from then on.

I find that the advice from both sides is wrong depending on which side of the fence you fall on. Advising to limit important activities can be devastating to the life of a moderate sufferer who could certainly get by with ear defenders. Likewise, advising people with severe catastrophic T/H that's it's fine to continue is most likely equally bad.

There's a confliction due to the nature of how T affects us all differently.

 

[Tony Phylactou]

I'll just say that I recently flew 2 connected flights that took a combined total of 18 hours. I flew another 4 times after this totalling a further 18 hours or so. On top of this I went on a submarine down to a depth of 130 ft; drove from sea level to the top of 2 mountains, one at 10,023 ft and the other at 13,800 ft. I also went on 2 helicopter flights and went parasailing at 1200 ft. This all took place over a 3 week period.

The only issue I had was a Eustachian tube problem during landing on a flight to LA. My ear blocked up because I obviously had fluid in my left ear. It resolved the following morning and I had absolutely no issues whatsoever with my tinnitus during any of these journeys and I really did A LOT of altitude descends.

I think there is a general hysteria around flying that's not really warranted. I'm aware some may face issues but with the right planning and awareness I believe the chances of damage or worsening of tinnitus are minuscule. Even the tinnitus uk website itself says a lot of tinnitus sufferers worry unnecessarily during flights.

I thing he is more worried about traveling with high H ,not so much about his high T.which obviously you don't have.

 

[Tinker Bell]

I thing he is more worried about traveling with high H ,not so much about his high T.which obviously you don't have.

And I think the posters flight already did or did not happen since this post is from a year ago.

 

[Sean]

My situation; I've had moderate T&H for a few years now, but about three months ago I suffered a setback which made both of them much more intense. My T got a lot louder so it keeps me awake at night again, and I also got "morse code Tinnitus" now in addition to the other two, continuous sounds. But an even bigger problem is my H. I have become much more sensitive to sounds, and get distracted/annoyed by all kinds of sounds I didn't even consciously notice before, for example the humming of the fridge at the other side of my apartment. I also get ear pain frequently now, something I only very rarely had before. (Not really in response to sound, more like just at various moments throughout the day.)

I've been planning to travel abroad for some time now, and that involves taking a long plane flight, like 16 hours there, and then later 16 hours back too of course. Last time I flew was about 2,5 years ago and back then it all went fine. I brought my noise cancellation headphones, got a seat far in front of the engines, and chewed lots of gum to keep the pressure equalized. My ear felt bad and my T was very loud after I got off the plane, but it didn't do any permanent damage. But that was back then, it was all pretty mild compared to how I have it now.

I know everyone's T and H are different, and that in the end I will have to make my own decision, and any consequences will also be for me. But I'd still like to hear from any other people whose T and especially H are comparable to mine who have taken long plane flights, and how that went for them. Thanks.

I have taken many 16 hours flights with ear plugs and last time with plugs and muffs on the top.
No issue after flight what so ever . Key thing is to protect the ears .
I only had slight spike because I was tired . It only lasted for day but I get spike when I am tired any ways .
I am not sure how important for you to go is but that's the experience I had and my T is very very reactive to loud noises .

 

[Lennon]

@Bobby B

The main risk that concerns people is barotrauma more than anything. The noise, especially if you pick the right seat, is not too bad. I certainly wouldn't say it's bad enough to cause tinnitus without pre existing issues, even then I've seen no evidence to suggest flight noise should be a concern.

My flights were all below 80 db once we were cruising. Take offs can get loud, in which case, cover your ears. One of the flights, which was a double decker Airbus was very quiet notching under 70 db. This was on the top deck.

I still played it safe but I only used Sennheiser passive noise headphones, and the main reason for this was watching movies and tv shows. 18 hours is a long time to keep your sanity just sitting in a highly uncomfortable chair.

Surely flight attendants are at risk and should be supplied ear protection as an occupational hazard? I didn't see a single attendant with any ear protection whatsoever. If the risk was high enough they'd all be protected to comply with health and safety laws, and it would help with any law suits etc.

Maybe I'm totally wrong and there's countless flight crew out there with tinnitus caused by their job. If this was the case though, why aren't they made to wear ear defenders?

The helicopter crew we encountered all wore ear plugs and/or peltors. A stark difference in how the 2 different jobs were handled. Obviously ground noise for the helicopter crew is louder and the ear defense was compulsory.

Good thinking,

I am a pilot with tinnitus, and also know few others. Anyway most of us got our t from other than aviation noise. Usually gigs,clubs etc. Like I got mine fron club night, surely there might be some affect with flying md11 at the time with fucked up radios and hf traffic with indian atc.. anyway I didnt have any experience of tinnitus (except fleeting tinnitus) before that. Then suddenly boom.. it was there after I got back to hotel room.. and stayed like that.. seems truly that lot of people are worried about flying but nobody seems to think that flight crews are actually one group that suffer from t pretty much. Still they continue their work.

 

[Tony Phylactou]

I'll just say that I recently flew 2 connected flights that took a combined total of 18 hours. I flew another 4 times after this totalling a further 18 hours or so. On top of this I went on a submarine down to a depth of 130 ft; drove from sea level to the top of 2 mountains, one at 10,023 ft and the other at 13,800 ft. I also went on 2 helicopter flights and went parasailing at 1200 ft. This all took place over a 3 week period.

The only issue I had was a Eustachian tube problem during landing on a flight to LA. My ear blocked up because I obviously had fluid in my left ear. It resolved the following morning and I had absolutely no issues whatsoever with my tinnitus during any of these journeys and I really did A LOT of altitude descends.

I think there is a general hysteria around flying that's not really warranted. I'm aware some may face issues but with the right planning and awareness I believe the chances of damage or worsening of tinnitus are minuscule. Even the tinnitus uk website itself says a lot of tinnitus sufferers worry unnecessarily during flights.

He is more worried about H and not T that you have,

 

[Tony Phylactou]

My situation; I've had moderate T&H for a few years now, but about three months ago I suffered a setback which made both of them much more intense. My T got a lot louder so it keeps me awake at night again, and I also got "morse code Tinnitus" now in addition to the other two, continuous sounds. But an even bigger problem is my H. I have become much more sensitive to sounds, and get distracted/annoyed by all kinds of sounds I didn't even consciously notice before, for example the humming of the fridge at the other side of my apartment. I also get ear pain frequently now, something I only very rarely had before. (Not really in response to sound, more like just at various moments throughout the day.)

I've been planning to travel abroad for some time now, and that involves taking a long plane flight, like 16 hours there, and then later 16 hours back too of course. Last time I flew was about 2,5 years ago and back then it all went fine. I brought my noise cancellation headphones, got a seat far in front of the engines, and chewed lots of gum to keep the pressure equalized. My ear felt bad and my T was very loud after I got off the plane, but it didn't do any permanent damage. But that was back then, it was all pretty mild compared to how I have it now.

I know everyone's T and H are different, and that in the end I will have to make my own decision, and any consequences will also be for me. But I'd still like to hear from any other people whose T and especially H are comparable to mine who have taken long plane flights, and how that went for them. Thanks.

Can we have an update please. Did you fly or not and if you did what happened?

 

[Karel]

Can we have an update please. Did you fly or not and if you did what happened?

Ah. Sure. In the end I did take that flight. And the flight there went fine, as before I wore noise-cancellation headphones the whole flight and that seemed to do the trick. However, after the return flight when I got home again it did feel like my T had worsened. While at the airport waiting for my flight home I had an incident with a sudden very loud PA announcement right above my head, personally I think that is where it went wrong rather than in the plane itself. But I can't be sure of course.
I haven't flown anymore since that time, and my stance now is that I'd only consider flying again if I had a incredibly important reason to do so, and if I do I will make sure to wear my headphones continuously not just in the plane but also at the airports.

 

[Tony Phylactou]

Ah. Sure. In the end I did take that flight. And the flight there went fine, as before I wore noise-cancellation headphones the whole flight and that seemed to do the trick. However, after the return flight when I got home again it did feel like my T had worsened. While at the airport waiting for my flight home I had an incident with a sudden very loud PA announcement right above my head, personally I think that is where it went wrong rather than in the plane itself. But I can't be sure of course.
I haven't flown anymore since that time, and my stance now is that I'd only consider flying again if I had a incredibly important reason to do so, and if I do I will make sure to wear my headphones continuously not just in the plane but also at the airports.

Thanks for the update. This will add to our experience.It looks as though your assumption is correct. If you flew there with no problem you should be able to fly back with no problem.

Unless the return flight was with a more noisy airplane, or was it the same?

 

[Karel]

Thanks for the update. This will add to our experience.It looks as though your assumption is correct. If you flew there with no problem you should be able to fly back with no problem.

Unless the return flight was with a more noisy airplane, or was it the same?

It was the same kind of plane, and I was sitting in about the same seat, as far forwards away from the engines as I could afford. So yeah, my feeling is something went wrong at the airport.