Going on a Road Trip — Should I Wear Earplugs in the Car?

[Mister Muso]

The big question - the 64 million dollar question - is: do these small spikes as a result of exposure to 'normal' noise indicate that you are causing additional damage and need to protect? Or is it instead just a symptom of your now haywire auditory system, which decides to act up every once in a while. As an analogy: is it Crohn's that requires care and can get worse? Or IBS, which will just act up periodically and for no good reason?

I don't think any of us know the answer to this: but holy would it lower all of our anxieties if we did!!

Good question!

A simple spike on its own like I've described will probably settle down with no lasting damage. But what if the event or a similar event is repeated the next day, and the next? Or three times in a day? I have known myself to suffer worse spikes for longer, on such occasions. And how many chances do we get before the spike is permanent?

But you make a good point that we shouldn't panic any time something triggers our tinnitus. Hopefully more research will give us better knowledge of what is really happening on these occasions, to help us know how to safely live with our conditions and with less unnecessary stress.

 

[JohnFox]

Hope that helps.

Yes it does help, and thnx for the feedback. I think I will begin to use the earplugs less as long as I am not in a dangerous level of noise environment. Outings such as going to the store or being in a coffee shop, up until now I have automatically inserted the earplugs to make the reactive Tinnitus more tolerable. I will try doing these activities without the earplugs. I have no problem with enduring some increased discomfort if it might help things in the long run. Hoping for better days ahead! J

 

[MattS]

Yes it does help, and thnx for the feedback. I think I will begin to use the earplugs less as long as I am not in a dangerous level of noise environment. Outings such as going to the store or being in a coffee shop, up until now I have automatically inserted the earplugs to make the reactive Tinnitus more tolerable. I will try doing these activities without the earplugs. I have no problem with enduring some increased discomfort if it might help things in the long run. Hoping for better days ahead! J

Do be carefully though John - there's a happy medium to be found, and you may have to start slow. One method you could use, to be really gradual about it, is to keep lowering the db-rating of your plugs. If you were using a 20 NRR, drop to 18 for a couple weeks, then 16, etc. Or perhaps give yourself 15 minutes of unexposed time for a few weeks, and then extend it to 30 minutes, etc. This type of gradual re-exposure *will* help the hyperacusis, but you obviously want to take care not to go too quickly and have the tinnitus kick you in the butt.

 

[MattS]

Good question!

A simple spike on its own like I've described will probably settle down with no lasting damage. But what if the event or a similar event is repeated the next day, and the next? Or three times in a day? I have known myself to suffer worse spikes for longer, on such occasions. And how many chances do we get before the spike is permanent?

But you make a good point that we shouldn't panic any time something triggers our tinnitus. Hopefully more research will give us better knowledge of what is really happening on these occasions, to help us know how to safely live with our conditions and with less unnecessary stress.

Completely agree Muso: I think it's very possible that repeated spikes could make us worse in the long term. And I think it's also very possible that they won't. It ultimately comes down to what the heck is the mechanism causing this? Until we know, all we can do is try to balance living a good life with living a safe one.

 

[alex1975]

If you don't have hyperacusis, I am absolutely sure that you don't need any hearing protection for the trip. Believe me, I have had tinnitus from June 2016 (acoustic trauma) and I have been traveling a lot since then with no spikes in tinnitus. I understand your worries, my first months with tinnitus I also was very paranoid about all the noises around me.

But now, totally habituated, I have to say that the only limitation with tinnitus is that you have to protect ears when you go to some noisy restaurants, sports events (I go every 14 days with hearing protection to football matches without any problem), etc. So you can drive with no worries about tinnitus, believe me.

I have never post here until today (because now I have doubts about using firearms as I said in my post), but I will write a post of my good evolution with tinnitus soon, to help new people with tinnitus.

If anyone here knows about firearms, please help me with my doubts about police academy.

Hi Roberto,

I'm still dealing with hyperacusis (reactive tinnitus) from a concert I went to a month ago. I'm finding now that I need to take baby steps with my ears. I decided to start wearing ear plugs for any situation over 70- 75db. I'll see how that goes for a month and start upping the limit little by little...

 

[alex1975]

Do be carefully though John - there's a happy medium to be found, and you may have to start slow. One method you could use, to be really gradual about it, is to keep lowering the db-rating of your plugs. If you were using a 20 NRR, drop to 18 for a couple weeks, then 16, etc. Or perhaps give yourself 15 minutes of unexposed time for a few weeks, and then extend it to 30 minutes, etc. This type of gradual re-exposure *will* help the hyperacusis, but you obviously want to take care not to go too quickly and have the tinnitus kick you in the butt.

Helpful info, thanks very much. I'll be applying this method and see how it helps my hyperacusis...

 

[Bill Bauer]

Is you condition like mine, or is it damage from noise exposure? Did your hyperacusis go away gradually, or more suddenly?

Mine was either due to a sonic toothbrush coming in contact with my ear canal for a fraction of a second (long story!), or due to one of the tests performed by an audiologist 10 days afterwards.

My hyperacusis has faded very gradually.

 

[MattS]

Helpful info, thanks very much. I'll be applying this method and see how it helps my hyperacusis...

Please report back!

 

[alex1975]

Update:

On the first leg of my trip, I drove 5 hours with the filter from my ear plugs removed. That evening and the morning after seemed great, with my tinnitus pretty low. But for the second day, which was 10 hours of driving, I put the filter back in to my plugs (I thought perhaps it would be a better idea since I knew I'd be driving for longer) and this morning I wake up to louder tinnitus... Shoot, not sure if it's because I was messing around with the plugs a bit since they're so new to me. Or maybe I'm better off leaving the filter out. They definitely seem to provide protection even without the filter. So anyway, I'm definitely confused...

 

[Earing]

It could be the 10 hours of driving. The low rumble of tires on the road used to really bother my hyperacusis & tinnitus. Bone induction of low vibrations happens with or without earplugs.

 

[MattS]

Update:

On the first leg of my trip, I drove 5 hours with the filter from my ear plugs removed. That evening and the morning after seemed great, with my tinnitus pretty low. But for the second day, which was 10 hours of driving, I put the filter back in to my plugs (I thought perhaps it would be a better idea since I knew I'd be driving for longer) and this morning I wake up to louder tinnitus... Shoot, not sure if it's because I was messing around with the plugs a bit since they're so new to me. Or maybe I'm better off leaving the filter out. They definitely seem to provide protection even without the filter. So anyway, I'm definitely confused...

Well, one good day out of two is only half bad!

Driving is always a funny thing - I think sometimes it has as much to do with vibrations from the road as from the noise itself (which plugs can't do anything about). Also, it's hard to know if any spike you experience is happens immediately, or is delayed at all (many people (myself included) believe the effects can delay somewhat). All to say: you may not be able to monitor quite so moment-to-moment specifically. As long as you trend inf the right direction, consider yourself to be doing something right.

 

[JohnFox]

Mine was either due to a sonic toothbrush coming in contact with my ear canal for a fraction of a second (long story!), or due to one of the tests performed by an audiologist 10 days afterwards.

Wow, interesting. Mine is a mystery. It all happened suddenly in middle of the night. My hearing was fine, then boom. Lost all hearing in right ear, Tinnitus, and Hyperacusis. I do have to think it had something to do with a horrible motorcycle accident I was recovering from that happened about 7-8 weeks prior. It was an off road accident where I broke many bones, lost blood, compound fracture, lots of stress, etc.. I was completely incapacitated for many weeks and using a lot of pain meds. I fortunately did not sustain a head injury, but I still think it was either the stress or the pain meds, or both that had something to do with this event in the middle of the night that caused my hearing to become severely compromised. The ENT said he had no idea, that he has seen this same thing in others with no history of any event that might have caused it. Oh well, it is what it is.

 

[JohnFox]

Do be carefully though John - there's a happy medium to be found, and you may have to start slow.

Thanks for the advice.