Impulse Noise in Gym — Damage?

[hans799]

Most of the equipment and weights in the gym I frequent are rubber-coated, so there's usually no danger of loud impact noise. Not all, though.

This morning a guy tried to attach a rope with a metal counterweight on one end to a metal bar overhead. When he threw the rope up, the metal counterweight on the rope banged into the metal bar and produced a loud, sharp impact noise. I was maybe 1.5 meters away, my right side facing the bar.

The unexpected noise frightened me a lot + my right ear had this weird fullness feeling for about a hour, but my tinnitus didn't spike and my hearing wasn't muffled at all. How loud could this have been? I read that impulse noises need to be ~130dB in order to cause damage.

Should I run for the emergency prednisone, or is that overkill? I already took NAC and a large amount of vitamins A, C and E (which are said by certain studies to be protective in case of noise damage).

Or maybe I'm overreacting...

 

[Bill Bauer]

Or maybe I'm overreacting...

I don't think you are overreacting. If you get a tinnitus spike tomorrow, then it might make sense to get Prednisone. It ought to still be effective, and there would be more reason for you to take it.

 

[hans799]

I don't think you are overreacting. If you get a tinnitus spike tomorrow, then it might make sense to get Prednisone. It ought to still be effective, and there would be more reason for you to take it.

I already have prednisone stashed away, precisely to be able to take it in case of emergency without having to wait for a doc. (In fact I told my GP that I want some but only as a reserve and he prescribed it. Cool guy.)

If I don't get a spike today/tomorrow, should I be in the clear?

 

[Bill Bauer]

If I don't get a spike today/tomorrow, should I be in the clear?

The only reason I am not recommending that you take Prednisone is that I thought that it was a scarce resource. If you can always get more Prednisone, then I would take it, if I were you. Having said this, make sure that you are aware of all of the possible side effects. It is supposed to interfere with bone formation, possibly leading to problems with one's teeth in the future. I have no idea whether or not a 1-10 day course of Prednisone is capable of having that effect.

One thing you can do is take it now, and then discontinue taking it if there is no spike tomorrow.

By the way - for Prednisone, the daily dose is X mg, where X is "one's weight in kilograms", not to exceed 60 mg per day. Could it be that your doctor prescribed 10 mg Prednisone pills to you?!

 

[hans799]

The only reason I am not recommending that you take Prednisone is that I thought that it was a scarce resource. If you can always get more Prednisone, then I would take it, if I were you. Having said this, make sure that you are aware of all of the possible side effects. It is supposed to interfere with bone formation, possibly leading to problems with one's teeth in the future. I have no idea whether or not a 1-10 day course of Prednisone is capable of having that effect.

One thing you can do is take it now, and then discontinue taking it if there is no spike tomorrow.

By the way - for Prednisone, the daily dose is X mg, where X is "one's weight in kilograms", not to exceed 60 mg per day. Could it be that your doctor prescribed 10 mg Prednisone pills to you?!

Yes he did, so I don't have that much - 240mg all together if I'm correct. But even that is a 4-day supply, enough time to get more if necessary. It's kind of a scarce resource as I don't have the same GP any more.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Yes he did, so I don't have that much - 240mg all together if I'm correct. But even that is a 4-day supply, enough time to get more if necessary. It's kind of a scarce resource as I don't have the same GP any more.

It is a difficult decision to make. On one hand you had experienced a full ear sensation. On the other hand it is gone now, and your T hasn't spiked.

You might go to the emergency today and try to get more prednisone. If they give you some today, then take it today (as it would then be not as scarce). If they refuse to give any prednisone to you, then wait until tomorrow and if you get a spike, begin taking prednisone...

 

[Gman]

I don't think you are overreacting. If you get a tinnitus spike tomorrow, then it might make sense to get Prednisone. It ought to still be effective, and there would be more reason for you to take it.

Really?
@hans799 has your hearing dulled at all or changed as a result of the noise incident?

 

[Bill Bauer]

Really?
@hans799 has your hearing dulled at all or changed as a result of the noise incident?

My advice was to take prednisone, should he notice any suspicious symptoms over the next 24 hours.

 

[Gman]

My advice was to take prednisone, should he notice any suspicious symptoms over the next 24 hours.

Pred is some serious stuff. It's on the ototoxic list too. I'd only be taking it for a really dire situation like if the sound has caused a noticable change in hearing.

Anyway one article I've read states that melatonin is more effective.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I'd only be taking it for a really dire situation like if the sound has caused a noticable change in hearing.

What if T gets louder?

 

[Bill Bauer]

Anyway one article I've read states that melatonin is more effective.

Would you know what dosage of melatonin we are talking about?

 

[hans799]

Really?
@hans799 has your hearing dulled at all or changed as a result of the noise incident?

No hearing changes, no tinnitus changes. Only this sense of fullness in the right ear for a while. Which might have been the tensor tympani muscle contracting, based on the few panicked Google searches I've just done.

My advice was to take prednisone, should he notice any suspicious symptoms over the next 24 hours.

I'll follow your advice Bill and take prednisone if I notice a change in T tomorrow morning. By the way I'm also following your advice in your much earlier post in which you've enumerated a whole host of precautions us T people should take (such as maintaining excellent dental hygiene, wearing earplugs on the street and so on), thanks for that one. It might be overkill but I prefer to err on the side of caution until we can get a way to repair hearing damage.

I'm seriously considering wearing an earplug in the gym from now on, too. So far it seemed to be a "safe space" but with heavy weights being thrown around a noise accident can happen at any time and I really really really hate this feeling of guilt I have right now. I'll receive brand new custom-molded -25dB silicone earplugs in a few days (had the ear impressions taken a few days ago), they should be just perfect.

 

[Gman]

What if T gets louder?

Well, I don't know. Sometimes spikes are just spikes. Not trying to get into a pred debate, but it's a bit worrying how lightly it gets thrown around. It's pretty hardcore. I had some bad chest pains when I took it once after my hearing diminished, which turned out to be due to my tensor tympani being whack, not ssnhl

 

[Gman]

Would you know what dosage of melatonin we are talking about?

It's in that antioxidant PDF from life extension. It was in a thread a while ago remember? I think they stated 3mg was used in some study.

 

[Bill Bauer]

wearing earplugs on the street

Only wear them in environment X if the noise feels uncomfortably loud there, or if you have had experiences of getting spikes after spending time in that environment. Also, if you do that, make sure to get exposed to some moderate noise (e.g., watch TV at the loudest volume that doesn't cause any problems for you). I wear earplugs to fewer places now than I did in the past. I still wear earplugs when I drive and when I visit large stores.

thanks for that one

You are most welcome!

 

[Gman]

No hearing changes, no tinnitus changes. Only this sense of fullness in the right ear for a while. Which might have been the tensor tympani muscle contracting, based on the few panicked Google searches I've just done.



I'll follow your advice Bill and take prednisone if I notice a change in T tomorrow morning. By the way I'm also following your advice in your much earlier post in which you've enumerated a whole host of precautions us T people should take (such as maintaining excellent dental hygiene, wearing earplugs on the street and so on), thanks for that one. It might be overkill but I prefer to err on the side of caution until we can get a way to repair hearing damage.

I'm seriously considering wearing an earplug in the gym from now on, too. So far it seemed to be a "safe space" but with heavy weights being thrown around a noise accident can happen at any time and I really really really hate this feeling of guilt I have right now. I'll receive brand new custom-molded -25dB silicone earplugs in a few days (had the ear impressions taken a few days ago), they should be just perfect.

I hate that worrying feeling so much after noise incidents. I guess you just need to really carefully weigh up what you need to do.

 

[hans799]

when I drive

Hm, why during driving? Apart from an accident (the prospect of airbags blowing my eardrums out terrifies me to the point where I've considered having them disabled) the car seems to be a pretty safe place - a sealed bubble of steel which significantly attenuates any external noise. In addition, earplugs might increase the chance of an accident by blocking awareness of external noises (such not noticing a quieter motorbike in the blind spot... God forbid). So overall the risk-reward ratio for earplugs in cars doesn't seem right for me, would love to hear your reasoning.

 

[Gman]

There is also nicotinamide riboside that has been shown to reduce noise induce hearing loss. I'd take that and the usual NAC et al before hitting the hard stuff like pred.

 

[hans799]

There is also nicotinamide riboside that has been shown to reduce noise induce hearing loss. I'd take that and the usual NAC et al before hitting the hard stuff like pred.

Can't really make sense of Wikipedia - is nicotinamide riboside just a fancy name for a given form of B3, or is it a different molecule altogether? So if I take a quality multivitamin that has a good B-complex in it, will that cover the riboside, or is it something completely separate?

 

[Gman]

Only wear them in environment X if the noise feels uncomfortably loud there, or if you have had experiences of getting spikes after spending time in that environment. Also, if you do that, make sure to get exposed to some moderate noise (e.g., watch TV at the loudest volume that doesn't cause any problems for you). I wear earplugs to fewer places now than I did in the past. I still wear earplugs when I drive and when I visit large stores.

You are most welcome!

I wear them too when driving, but due to insanely loud modified motorbike muffler (amplifiers?) people seem to think is cool in this place whilst happily ripping their hearing to shreds. It's so tragic, I see little kids on backs of motorbikes with no helmets getting pummeled with this traffic sound while I'm in an SUV wearing earplugs.

 

[Gman]

Can't really make sense of Wikipedia - is nicotinamide riboside just a fancy name for a given form of B3, or is it a different molecule altogether? So if I take a quality multivitamin that has a good B-complex in it, will that cover the riboside, or is it something completely separate?

Yes a newer form of b3 but theres research to back it up. It's separate to normal b3

 

[hans799]

I hate that worrying feeling so much after noise incidents. I guess you just need to really carefully weigh up what you need to do.

Yes this impotent worry over what will happen and guilt over not using a $1 piece of plastic that would have prevented the whole situation is a special form of torture. May all spikes be temporary...

 

[Jack Straw]

Did you end up taking prednisone?

 

[hans799]

Did you end up taking prednisone?

Nope, but it's still "today" (the evening of the day on whose morning the incident happened). Tinnitus is on the shriller end of its typical behavior, but that's probably due to the modafinil I took, which tends to do this - nothing out of the ordinary range. I'll take prednisone if I detect a significant worsening today or tomorrow, but that mercifully hasn't happened yet. I don't want to pop it without a well-founded suspicion of actual damage, because risking its side effects without cause is probably just as stupid as not taking it when one needs it.

 

[Eric N]

I have been debating for a whole week whether to take prednisone or not after stupidly slamming the car door. My tinnitus has spiked considerably because of this. But I had hearing protection on and the noise wouldn't have exceeded 95 decibels as that's how loud it measured on the meter.

 

[hans799]

I have been debating for a whole week whether to take prednisone or not after stupidly slamming the car door. My tinnitus has spiked considerably because of this. But I had hearing protection on and the noise wouldn't have exceeded 95 decibels as that's how loud it measured on the meter.

Is the spike still present?

I don't know what kind of hearing protection you used but even if it attenuated just 10dB, 85dB of impulse noise is certainly harmless. So I think your T might be aggravated, but your hearing itself is undamaged. So the sound signal that your brain receives is unchanged, which means your T will sooner or later return to baseline. (If the theory that T is just the brain compensating for missing input is correct - which implies that permanent spikes only happen when there is actual hearing damage, not just some unusual noise that upsets the damned tinnitus.)

 

[Eric N]

Is the spike still present?

I don't know what kind of hearing protection you used but even if it attenuated just 10dB, 85dB of impulse noise is certainly harmless. So I think your T might be aggravated, but your hearing itself is undamaged. So the sound signal that your brain receives is unchanged, which means your T will sooner or later return to baseline. (If the theory that T is just the brain compensating for missing input is correct - which implies that permanent spikes only happen when there is actual hearing damage, not just some unusual noise that upsets the damned tinnitus.)

My hearing hasn't changed I did an audiogram the next day and there was no change. The spike is still there. I used an ear muff with a 30 nnr but I had of my winter hat so it didn't give full protection but probably at least 10 DB, 95 db was inside the car so outside would have been less, it didn't seem loud at all dropping a dish would have been louder.

 

[coffee_girl]

Yesterday a huge harley revv its engine right next to me...i thought for sure i would get a spike, but it turned out to be ok...i think you will be fine.

 

[Eric N]

Yesterday a huge harley revv its engine right next to me...i thought for sure i would get a spike, but it turned out to be ok...i think you will be fine.

What worries me is the nature of the spike when the high pitch gets really loud and starts drilling into my skull that's usually means something went wrong

 

[coffee_girl]

What worries me is the nature of the spike when the high pitch gets really loud and starts drilling into my skull that's usually means something went wrong

I agree, certain pitches really bother me (more than regular sounds)...i don't know if you are more likely to spike due to the kind of pitch or not. Is yours reactive tinnitus?