Loud Exposure to "Firetruck Siren" — Tinnitus Now Worse Than Ever

[DingDong]

First time poster.

I have suffered from tinnitus most of my life - knew it was there, but just like a lot of the other members, I began to just accept it and live my every day life with it.

Just this last Saturday - April 18th 2020 - while doing some drill on the fire apparatus floor.

One of the rookies accidentally sets up the firetruck siren - Inside a closed garage.
And the level of decibels and frequency was just excruciating.

Just as I thought I have gotten over the worst of my tinnitus and began to learn to live with it, this happens!

My ears have not stopped ringing since - and the tinnitus is extremely unbearable -
To the point where it is giving me headaches and migraines (thus was never the case before hand).

My hearing also feels as if it is muffled / decreased a bit.

My question here in a nutshell I guess -
Will the ringing ever subside to what it used to be?
Will the muffled / decreased hearing eventually improve?

This is absolutely exhausting - Just as I started to look past the "minor" tinnitus -

I am now experiencing the worst tinnitus ever in my life.

Anywords of advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Will the ringing ever subside to what it used to be?

Often spikes are temporary and temporary spikes can last for over 3 months, but normally begin fading after 4-6 weeks. Some of the "permanent" spikes also eventually improve after 1-3 years.

Too bad you didn't post here on the day of the incident. This is the case where taking a course of Prednisone might have helped.

 

[Sash]

Sirens and alarms are the worst sounds. It caught me out last year and ever since I feel both ears weakened considerably with the sound tolerance threshold much lower.

 

[DingDong]

Often spikes are temporary and temporary spikes can last for over 3 months, but normally begin fading after 4-6 weeks. Some of the "permanent" spikes also eventually improve after 1-3 years.

Too bad you didn't post here on the day of the incident. This is the case where taking a course of Prednisone might have helped.

I didn't find out about Tinnitus Talk till a couple days ago. Someone recommended the exact same thing actually.
I did get a quick referral to a ENT - and a DOSE of Prednisone on Day 9 -
Just gotta hope for the best.
Thanks your your response.

 

[DingDong]

Sirens and alarms are the worst sounds. It caught me out last year and ever since I feel both ears weakened considerably with the sound tolerance threshold much lower.

No improvement what so ever...?
Caught you out???

 

[Sash]

No improvement what so ever...?
Caught you out???

It's been devastating. I had tinnitus in left ear then got exposed to a burglar alarm at 105 decibels for three minutes close to ear which I could have easily avoided. This happened in July and I could feel my ears weakened at that time. After I attended a couple of loud events in August and September, think my ears were already weak, got hit big time with increased sensitivity which has progressively got worse. I have loud hyperacusis and now tinnitus in right ear too. Also in April started to get headaches. Just feel now hopeless and that it will just get worse and not improve whatever I do to protect. Sound threshold is around 60 decibels, used to be 85 decibels.

 

[DingDong]

Good morning Everyone -

I hope everyone is doing well, or at least the best they can.

I posted about 2 weeks ago with an incident I had at work (Firetruck Siren exposure).

Its been 2 weeks since the Incident -
And just as I thought it was getting better.

I got a spike from the most random noise in my house.

I woke up with the most subtle high pitched frequency coming from somewhere in my family room -
So subtle - My wife could barely hear it.

Chased it - till it was what sounded was coming out of the HVAC system -
Turned everything off - and in fact it ended up being a charger that was emitting the slightest HIGH pitched frequency.
If I had to guess it may have been just slightly over 20Hz - and not too loud in dB.
In fact I tried to send a voice recording to my brother who works in HVAC - And you couldn't even hear it over the voice record.

It was the most subtle noise -
In fact, it only bothered my right ear (which I have hyperacusis in)
I am not sure if it actually caused a spike -
Or now that the noise is gone I am looking for it =(.

Is it possible for something so stupid to have caused a spike. =(

HELP =(

 

[DingDong]

I can't even lay on my right side its so bad.
Before this incident, I was able to sleep on either side of my head.
Now when I try to lie down on my right side.
All I can hear is my Tinnitus =( its unbearable.

 

[PeteJ]

I was walking my dog and a siren from an ambulance went past me. I had avoided that situation for a long time. I didn't have time to insert my ear plugs but I plugged my ears with my fingers.

I don't know if that helps much. Does it? How effective is doing that?

I guess I should bring my muffs with me wherever I go (again). I fucking hate having to do this shit. I wouldn't even fight the virus or cancer if I got it. I want something to fucking kill me.

 

[whatdidyousay]

I was exposed to the sound of around 6-8 fire truck sirens on full blast a few months ago at a parade and made a thread about it. The exposure time was something like five minutes straight at around 130-140 dB. I was only standing just a few feet away and it was unbearably loud. Don't think my ears ever recovered from it.

And just today I got blasted by my neighbor's truck horn. He has one of those super loud custom ones that is probably around 130dB. Luckily this time it was only for a couple of seconds or so.

 

[Nathan]

Good morning Everyone -

I hope everyone is doing well, or at least the best they can.

I posted about 2 weeks ago with an incident I had at work (Firetruck Siren exposure).

Its been 2 weeks since the Incident -
And just as I thought it was getting better.

I got a spike from the most random noise in my house.

I woke up with the most subtle high pitched frequency coming from somewhere in my family room -
So subtle - My wife could barely hear it.

Chased it - till it was what sounded was coming out of the HVAC system -
Turned everything off - and in fact it ended up being a charger that was emitting the slightest HIGH pitched frequency.
If I had to guess it may have been just slightly over 20Hz - and not too loud in dB.
In fact I tried to send a voice recording to my brother who works in HVAC - And you couldn't even hear it over the voice record.

It was the most subtle noise -
In fact, it only bothered my right ear (which I have hyperacusis in)
I am not sure if it actually caused a spike -
Or now that the noise is gone I am looking for it =(.

Is it possible for something so stupid to have caused a spike. =(

HELP =(

I was exposed to the sound of around 6-8 fire truck sirens on full blast a few months ago at a parade and made a thread about it. The exposure time was something like five minutes straight at around 130-140 dB. I was only standing just a few feet away and it was unbearably loud. Don't think my ears ever recovered from it.

And just today I got blasted by my neighbor's truck horn. He has one of those super loud custom ones that is probably around 130dB. Luckily this time it was only for a couple of seconds or so.

If you can, next time you go shopping, try buying some magnesium tablets, NAC, and curcumin/turmeric. They can make yours ears more durable and help with tinnitus for some.

 

[dan]

I guess I should bring my muffs with me wherever I go (again). I fucking hate having to do this shit.

That's what I do now...

I would not walk around near major roads due to E-vehicles.

The other day I was driving on a side street windows rolled up AND Peltor x5 on. Suddenly a fire truck responding to an emergency turned towards me. The street had only room for one vehicle and in my mortal fright reflex I accelerated cutting its path, the asshole blared me with the LRAD type horn as I whizzed by.
It was STILL loud.

I am going to move to a rural area soon, maybe even cottage country. Cities are too noisy. Sirens, loud Mustangs, fire cracking asshole kids... F'ck them all.

 

[dan]

Just wondering what is the best and highest dB earmuff money can buy?

 

[whatdidyousay]

OP, did your tinnitus ever subside from this incident?

I was at a Veterans Days parade in 2019 and multiple fire trucks turned on their sirens and tooted their horns. The problem was traffic was extremely congested and so they ended up stuck in place just a few feet in front of me and I was also thus stuck in a packed crowd and was subjected to those 130dB+ noises for several minutes, in addition to the previous 90 minutes or so of loud revving motorcycle and muscle car engines and exhausts plus school marching bands. I don't think mine ever subsided from that event, sadly.

Sirens and things like fire/smoke alarms are probably the most annoying things ever with tinnitus. I get that people in their cars might need to be able to hear the trucks coming through on the road, but when you're a pedestrian without the masking of an insulated car the sound levels are just obscene. Obviously the same deal with alarms since they need to be heard from a distance or people who are asleep, etc, but boy are they insanely loud from up a reasonably close distance.

 

[GeorgeLG]

Just wondering what is the best and highest dB earmuff money can buy?

Don't know if it's the highest but it was the best of the many I tried when I shot pistols competitively - 3M Ear Soft Foam plugs and 3M Peltor 105 muffs. The guy next to me routinely shot a .44 revolver which was really loud and I barely heard anything.

George