Had a HUGE Spike from Dropping Glass Cup Into Sink

[HanaK]

I just had the scariest experience and I'm not sure what to do now. I was washing the dishes and a tall glass cup filled with water made its way and plopped down into the drain of the sink. My left ear immediately went momentarily deaf and had a HUGE tinnitus spike that was super loud. It's settled a bit now, but definitely not back to baseline. I'm not sure what to do now. I'm so scared that I lost more hearing from it.

Definitely not washing the dishes without earmuffs next time...

 

[Bill Bauer]

Definitely not washing the dishes without earmuffs next time...

It is a good idea, at least for the next year or so.

Don't panic. Most likely it hasn't harmed your hearing. You might get a temporary tinnitus spike (that might last for several weeks or even months). I read about many people getting temporary spikes from shocks like that (and on many occasions that has happened to me too), but I don't recall anyone getting a permanent spike as a result of something like that. So try to not get too stressed out. If the spike persists after three months, Then you might want to get concerned. Until that time, it ought to be ok. Just be more careful next time.

 

[HanaK]

Thanks Bill! It was so scary. It was like I went deaf and all I could hear was my tinnitus. Never had anything like that happen before. What does a spike typically feel like? For me it felt like sudden deafness and muffled hearing combined with LOUD fleeting tinnitus . I feel sort of okay now, but I hope my hearing doesn't take a hit from this.

 

[Gman]

I agree with @Bill Bauer. I don't advocate wearing ear pro too much, but with H or reactive T, protecting for things that give you a spike is important until your auditory system calms down. I was so bad a year or so ago, that when I dropped a small plastic handled knife in the sink, I got a spike for days. Your middle ear muscles might be hypersensitive, contracting in an attempt to protect the inner ear and thereby causing the momentary deafness and T spike. Also the anxiety would play a big part to exacerbate this. It's what I've found to be the case, but everyone is different.

I still wear muffs if cooking stuff that's gonna sizzle because I know my ears don't like it. But doing dishes I don't wear anything anymore.

 

[HanaK]

I agree with @Bill Bauer. I don't advocate wearing ear pro too much, but with H or reactive T, protecting for things that give you a spike is important until your auditory system calms down. I was so bad a year or so ago, that when I dropped a small plastic handled knife in the sink, I got a spike for days. Your middle ear muscles might be hypersensitive, contracting in an attempt to protect the inner ear and thereby causing the momentary deafness and T spike. Also the anxiety would play a big part to exacerbate this. It's what I've found to be the case, but everyone is different.

I still wear muffs if cooking stuff that's gonna sizzle because I know my ears don't like it. But doing dishes I don't wear anything anymore.

Wow that is really bad H. Glad to know that you can do the dishes without muffs now! Sizzling also throws me off. I really hope it's just the middle ear muscles It was super frightening to just go deaf like that. I thought I did some serious harm... but seeing how I can hear without things sounding too muffled I hope it'll be okay like you and Bill said. Thank you!

 

[Bill Bauer]

For me it felt like sudden deafness and muffled hearing combined with LOUD fleeting tinnitus

I've read about some people who had experienced something like that, but this is certainly rare. Normally a spike is just T getting louder (either right away after the noise shock, or over the next few hours, or the next day)...

 

[HanaK]

I've read about some people who had experienced something like that, but this is certainly rare. Normally a spike is just T getting louder (either right away after the noise shock, or over the next few hours, or the next day)...

Yeah That's what I thought a spike would be. This felt like the kind of thing that would happen after a gun being shot or something, but I highly doubt a glass cup with water falling into the sink can cause that same level of sound energy. Really hope this doesn't count as an acoustic trauma or cumulative noise damage...

 

[Bill Bauer]

his felt like the kind of thing that would happen after a gun being shot or something, but I highly doubt a glass cup with water falling into the sink can cause that same level of sound energy.

This is why I don't think you should be worried too much about it.

If it continue to have that muffled hearing, you might want to take NAC.

If it Really feels like something is Very wrong, you could try taking Prednisone. It is a powerful drug that can have serious side effects (like bone loss leading to problems with teeth). So you should only take it if you are sure that there is no other way. A doctor won't prescribe it for the kind of noise that you have been subjected to. If you live in North America, you can try telling the doctor that you were around a gunshot or had to stop a screaming fire alarm. They might then give 5 50 mg pills to you. The standard course is 2 weeks + tapering, so it might require several trips to different ERs to get that.

You can search this forum to read more about Prednisone. Some people think that it helps prevent damage following noise trauma, but others disagree. The bottom line is that you shouldn't be taking it unless you are convinced that there is no other way.

 

[Bill Bauer]

@jeas , you thought that it was funny to suggest that Hanna wear hearing protection while washing dishes. Did you change your mind when you read

For me it felt like sudden deafness and muffled hearing combined with LOUD fleeting tinnitus

 

[HanaK]

If it helps to guess how loud the sound was, it was a heavy glass cup with a 1 inch thickness at the bottom of it, which made it heavier, and it was filled to the brim with water. The sink is made of white ceramic I believe, so the impact of the glass falling into and hitting the sides of the metal drain probably made a very loud noise which was why my ear reacted so badly to it. The lid of the drain wasn't on either, it only had small rubber flaps covering the hole.

 

[HanaK]

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/...rticle/evqagp/deaf-from-a-toilet-seat-physics

Found this article, I guess my situation may have been similar to this. Although the cup was nowhere near as heavy as a toilet lid. But the sound was pretty close to my ear. Still praying that it caused no hearing damage though.

 

[Drone Draper]

Just read an article about tinnitus treatments in Europe and this was the outcome of prednisone in T patients in Germany. Dark green = full recovery, light green = partial recover, yellow = no improvement, purple = got worse.

I'm so frustrated I was not given it when I saw my GP in the acute stage.

 

[HanaK]

Just read an article about tinnitus treatments in Europe and this was the outcome of prednisone in T patients in Germany. Dark green = full recovery, light green = partial recover, yellow = no improvement, purple = got worse.

I'm so frustrated I was not given it when I saw my GP in the acute stage.

View attachment 27150

Wow that's amazing results. Yeah, doctors could have done so much to prevent our hearing loss but sadly they don't.

 

[HanaK]

Quick update since it's been a few hours: My tinnitus seems just slightly louder... and my hearing does feel a little off. There is also tinnitus in my left ear now. (I mainly only have T in my right ear) Hopefully this is just temporary though.. I definitely need to protect like crazy to prevent anymore of these incidences from happening since noise damage is cumulative.

 

[Eric N]

Just read an article about tinnitus treatments in Europe and this was the outcome of prednisone in T patients in Germany. Dark green = full recovery, light green = partial recover, yellow = no improvement, purple = got worse.

I'm so frustrated I was not given it when I saw my GP in the acute stage.

View attachment 27150

Is there a control group? a lot of these cases could have resolved on their own

 

[Bill Bauer]

this was the outcome of prednisone in T patients in Germany

Shocking... I saw an ENT 3 days after the onset of my T. I already got 5 pills from an ER doctor, but my ENT wouldn't give me more because I burst into tears when he asked me "how are you" and he didn't want to increase my stress levels. Can you imagine?!

 

[Drone Draper]

@Eric N - good point, mon ami. This is a group of 1,001 patients, so a good sample size. I don't think I've seen a study on spontaneous recovery of the same size, but it's please link me if you have one.

@Bill Bauer - wow. My disinterested ENT just gave me a two page printout from 2009 that included a point that "drugs play no part" in tinnitus treatment. As if no studies in the last decade could possibly have shown any efffect whatsoever. When I think about the fact that some of my misery could have been avoided, it fills me with such rage and anger. It is most definitely times like this I wish we had more of a private healthcare system here.

I'll post the article when I get home so it can be openly scrutinised.

 

[Drone Draper]

Article here: pls review/scrutinise

https://tinnitusonderzoek.atavist.com/tinnitus-wordt-niet-behandeld-op-medisch-gebied-in-nederland

 

[Bob den Hartog]

I've read about some people who had experienced something like that, but this is certainly rare. Normally a spike is just T getting louder (either right away after the noise shock, or over the next few hours, or the next day)...

How do you know it's a spike, or a permanent worsening?

Asking because I've had a disastrous weekend. A week ago, my tinnitus was changing, from pretty silent in the morning, and reactive, some loud, sometimes less. Now, after a succession of events including a building site across my apartment which decided on Monday to emit loud, continuous noise audible within a 1KM range, I fled out of my apartment to the park, hoping for silence. I had earplugs in, but there were kids, geese, birds, everywhere (I have H, and it turned out all was intolerable), so constantly changed to other places, all day. Since I spoke to an audiologist on the phone that morning that said it was impossible to damage ears with such sounds, I was hoping it didn't do too much damage and that it'd be better than the monotonous noise. Tuesday my T wasn't as bad as I worried, but today it got LOUD, and a lot sharper than before. Also, although the sound changes all the time still, the volume is permanent. My H sensitivity went way down as well. Is it possible for this to calm down? Fade...?

I'm right now continuously protecting with newly bought earmuffs, which means I'm constantly listening to this loud T, which, in turn, is also making it (appear?) louder. It's horrible... I was full blown panicking last night.

I feel like I'm in a continuous cycle of worsening the past week, whereas before I had the feeling I was improving again.

 

[jeas]

@Bill Bauer I think you tagged the wrong person.

@jeas , you thought that it was funny to suggest that Hanna wear hearing protection while washing dishes. Did you change your mind when you read

*Edited to add, I just saw I must have clicked "funny" with my thumb while scrolling on my phone. My apologies. Nope I don't think it's funny. Also don't think the need to call people out to prove a point is funny.

Have a good day.

 

[Bill Bauer]

How do you know it's a spike, or a permanent worsening?

You need to wait a month or so - if it begins to fade, then it will likely not end up being permanent. If you wait four months, and it is still there, there is some cause for concern that it might end up being permanent.

Temporary spikes can last a surprisingly long time (over 3 months)https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/head-movement-spikes-tinnitus.25179/#post-290614
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/poll-how-long-do-your-tinnitus-spikes-usually-last.23110/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/poll-how-long-was-your-longest-spike.22099/

 

[Bill Bauer]

Tuesday my T wasn't as bad as I worried, but today it got LOUD, and a lot sharper than before.

It makes sense to ignore daily and even weekly fluctuations. What matters is the monthly trend. If every month it seems to get louder or sharper compared to a month ago, then there is a problem. Otherwise, you need to try to not worry about it (I realize that this is easier said than done). It doesn't sound like there were any major noises to cause any problems, so this is likely due to stress or just due to some unpredictable variations that are impossible to explain. You want to protect your ears, but you also want to ensure that this protection doesn't become debilitating. Do what you can to protect, and don't worry too much when you are unable to protect. Everyone has these setbacks, and yet many are still able to recover.