Hyperacusis → Muffled Hearing → Distorted Hearing

Hello all, I will try to keep this short.

While camping, I got hyperacusis from a gunshot aimed at a rabid raccoon that tried attacking us. This incident was about 7-8 weeks ago.

I already had tinnitus before this incident.

About 3 weeks ago, my doctor said I had an acoustic trauma. He put me on 20 mg of Prednisone for 5 days. There was still pain in my left ear after the Prednisone but the hearing got better and a bit more crisp.

Just the other day, this past Sunday or Monday, I thought I was good enough and healed. I cranked my stereo in my car on a road trip for about an hour and now I have muffled hearing again.

I've read that noise exposure, while on Prednisone, can make damage worse because your ears are more sensitive. It was about 12 days after the Prednisone course finished that I played the music in the car just this week. Yes, I wasn't on the Prednisone at the time of the stereo blasting but, was this still considered the sensitivity period where my ears were more prone to damage?

What are the odds of the muffled hearing and not crisp feeling going away? It's been about 4 days already and I'm afraid its here to stay.

 

Hey mate, sorry, I’m about the same amount of time in, 8 weeks from gunshot trauma tinnitus. Did your tinnitus subside as well when taking the Prednisone? It didn't seem to do anything for my tinnitus.

 

It's coming and going. I can't say for sure that the Prednisone did anything for me either. It was only a 5-day course. I'm not sure I would go back on it anyhow, I gained like 10 lbs.

But anyways, back to the point at hand. I've always had tinnitus so it's kind of hard to gauge if new tinnitus is present or if it's the old - if that makes sense. Right now I'm good but if I stick my finger in my ear canal and make adjustments, it may come back.