My Ears Are Screaming!

[Thomt]

I might have screwed up. I work in a loud environment but hearing protection is not needed. It's about 83db or less where I work. I've been wearing foam ear plugs for several years at work then I told myself I'll try not wearing them. That was 2 days ago. My ears have been screaming most of the time ever since. I guess my ears are not used to loud noises anymore. My ears have been this loud before several times but I always knew that they would calm down. Now I'm scared that I made then worse and this might be permanent. I don't know maybe I'm just paranoid. I hope.
Anyway I tried to sleep but I keep thinking about it. So I thought I'd come on here for some support and hopefully calm down. I feel alone sometimes and would just want someone to say it's going to be ok. It will calm down. I had this crap for about 18 years now and I still freak out sometimes!
Thanks for letting me vent.

 

[Vaba]

I might have screwed up. I work in a loud environment but hearing protection is not needed. It's about 83db or less where I work. I've been wearing foam ear plugs for several years at work then I told myself I'll try not wearing them. That was 2 days ago. My ears have been screaming most of the time ever since. I guess my ears are not used to loud noises anymore. My ears have been this loud before several times but I always knew that they would calm down. Now I'm scared that I made then worse and this might be permanent. I don't know maybe I'm just paranoid. I hope.
Anyway I tried to sleep but I keep thinking about it. So I thought I'd come on here for some support and hopefully calm down.
Thanks

Where do you work? What do you do?

 

[Thomt]

I work at Texas Instruments in the clean room. It does get loud in there with all the blower motors and air circulating.

 

[Vaba]

I work at Texas Instruments in the clean room. It does get loud in there with all the blower motors and air circulating.

I can't possibly imagine a standard cleanroom air purifier being ANY louder than 80dB. My personal AC is 65dB (which barely drowns out my tinnitus) and it has a high-quality filtration system attached to it because of my extreme environmental allergies.

It sounds like you've had a LOT of tinnitus scares before. Did they go away 100%? Are you taking any psychiatric drugs/diuretics/antibiotics? Also, have you exposed yourself to loud noise regularly (concerts, earbuds over 75% volume, etc.)

 

[Thomt]

It might not be any louder that 80db. I downloaded an App on my phone so I doubt if it's accurate. My tinnitus never really goes away but on my days off I wear my hearing aids and I don't notice it that much.
The only medication I'm on is for high blood pressure. One of them id a diuretic. I always wondered if my BP pills are causing my T.

 

[linearb]

My personal AC is 65dB (which barely drowns out my tinnitus)

Lucky! If I could mask with 65db white noise I probably wouldn't think about this stuff at all anymore...

 

[Alue]

I can't possibly imagine a standard cleanroom air purifier being ANY louder than 80dB. My personal AC is 65dB (which barely drowns out my tinnitus) and it has a high-quality filtration system attached to it because of my extreme environmental allergies.

Agreed, my work occasionally takes me into aseptic clean rooms, and the laminar air flow/HVAC although noisy doesn't really get above 70-75db with most places being around 70. Now add to that large industrial vacuum pumps and it can get much louder.

 

[Thomt]

Maybe I wore ear plugs too long and now any noise louder than 75 or 80 db for a while hurts my ears and makes me think my T is a lot louder. I guess I shouldn't worry about it.

 

[bill 112]

Maybe I wore ear plugs too long and now any noise louder than 75 or 80 db for a while hurts my ears and makes me think my T is a lot louder. I guess I shouldn't worry about it.

Wrong,you should worry about it and rightfully so.The fact that you've worn earplugs does not make your ears more sensitive regardless of what anyone tells you!Your ears can't handle the noise there and they're warning you to stop or at least protect and you should listen to them,when your working wear your earplugs and in future if anything makes your ears react this way get away from it as fast as you can,exposing yourself isn't going to make you better but much worse.

 

[Thomt]

What's worrying about it going to do? It will just make it worse. I'll just keep wearing my ear plugs. I've been in really loud restaurants and in cars with bad road noise that had a higher db levels with no protection and I was fine.
I can't worry about it, it won't help me. I'll just keep using my hearing aids and foam ear plugs when I need them.

 

[Bobby B]

why do you need hearings aids ?

 

[Thomt]

Hearing loss. High frequency. They do help.

 

[Bobby B]

Hearing loss. High frequency. They do help.

I think that if you have previous noise hearing damage, 80db can cause more damage unlike someone with good ears,

 

[Thomt]

I doubt it. I wasn't there too long, only for a few minutes. My other area was around 70db. My ears went back to my normal now. .

 

[Sam Bridge]

I think that if you have previous noise hearing damage, 80db can cause more damage unlike someone with good ears,

Source?

 

[rid0871]

guys im so sorry i dont know how to start a new post, would someone copy an paste this to start one. my question is does the AM-101 work. and are they taking people now. my head sounds like fring wires for 16 months now along with H. it started with only ear fullness then i had my neck popped then i started to hear noise. and now its all through my head. its killing me so bad. my hearing test shows only a loss at 40db at 8000
I NEED HELP SO BAD
sorry Rick from the US

 

[Vaba]

Lucky! If I could mask with 65db white noise I probably wouldn't think about this stuff at all anymore...

Keep in mind I said BARELY. It still cuts through quite clearly sometimes.

Also, I think you know by now that my main gripe with T is the bizarre facial pain/numbness problems I have along with it.

 

[Alue]

guys im so sorry i dont know how to start a new post, would someone copy an paste this to start one. my question is does the AM-101 work. and are they taking people now. my head sounds like fring wires for 16 months now along with H. it started with only ear fullness then i had my neck popped then i started to hear noise. and now its all through my head. its killing me so bad. my hearing test shows only a loss at 40db at 8000
I NEED HELP SO BAD
sorry Rick from the US

The latest results failed to show improvement over placebo, if it does work at all it's likely only very early on. And no they are not recruiting. Wish I had better news.

 

[linearb]

Keep in mind I said BARELY. It still cuts through quite clearly sometimes.

Also, I think you know by now that my main gripe with T is the bizarre facial pain/numbness problems I have along with it.

i assume you've seen a neurologist? those are not typical tinnitus symptoms by a long shot. sounds like a nerve problem.

 

[bill 112]

What's worrying about it going to do? It will just make it worse. I'll just keep wearing my ear plugs. I've been in really loud restaurants and in cars with bad road noise that had a higher db levels with no protection and I was fine.
I can't worry about it, it won't help me. I'll just keep using my hearing aids and foam ear plugs when I need them.

Wrong again,worrying about it isn't going to make it worse but failing to worry or acknowledge what your body is telling you will.But by all means continue not worrying about it until the day it gets much worse and then maybe you'll look back and think"I should have listened to what I was told,I should have worried or at least shown a little more concern towards this when I still had the chance"
Because believe me I wish I had of had someone to warn me before I got to where I am today,I wish someone would told me what will happen rather sugar coating it for me and empowering my mind with false hope.Bottom line is this,protect your hearing at all costs or you will live to regret it.

 

[bill 112]

Source?

There's no scientific data that I know of to back what Bobby said up,however myself and many many others here are living proof that after damage our ears can't handle what they did before.I got worse from simple noise insults whilst others here got permanently worse from simply walking past a loud noise,our ears are not what they use to be,sounds that didn't damage them before now have the ability to do just that unfortunately.

 

[Sam Bridge]

There's no scientific data that I know of to back what Bobby said up,however myself and many many others here are living proof that after damage our ears can't handle what they did before.I got worse from simple noise insults whilst others here got permanently worse from simply walking past a loud noise,our ears are not what they use to be,sounds that didn't damage them before now have the ability to do just that unfortunately.

Crikey, i get on the tube every day for work for about 12 mins and thats fairly loud. Haven't noticed any increase though. Don't think i will be doing any more concerts though!

 

[Bobby B]

If there is some structural damage to those delicate hair cells which cannot regenerate then those won't be able to flex the same way when powerful forces are applied

It's like an aircraft wing - designed to flex wihtout breaking in order to fly in very turbulent weather but would you fly that aircraft in the same rough weather if it had cracks to the wings ?

No way the regular 85db/8 hours-is-fine limit would apply to damaged hair cells .

You don't want to find out the hard way like many others did - including myself

 

[Alue]

Wrong again,worrying about it isn't going to make it worse but failing to worry or acknowledge what your body is telling you will.But by all means continue not worrying about it until the day it gets much worse and then maybe you'll look back and think"I should have listened to what I was told,I should have worried or at least shown a little more concern towards this when I still had the chance"
Because believe me I wish I had of had someone to warn me before I got to where I am today,I wish someone would told me what will happen rather sugar coating it for me and empowering my mind with false hope.Bottom line is this,protect your hearing at all costs or you will live to regret it.

I believe you but why is it every ENT out there says go ahead expose yourself to noise as long as it's under 80db for 8 hours? I think it's ridiculous, but how is the collective knowledge and understanding of hearing damage so archaic?

There's no scientific data that I know of to back what Bobby said up,however myself and many many others here are living proof that after damage our ears can't handle what they did before.I got worse from simple noise insults whilst others here got permanently worse from simply walking past a loud noise,our ears are not what they use to be,sounds that didn't damage them before now have the ability to do just that unfortunately.

What were the noise incidents that caused worsening for you? I have a hard time drawing the line from overprotecting my ears and not protecting enough, especially at work.

 

[Bobby B]

These scales are there to protect employers or business - in practice some people will be fine and some won't there isn't any way in 2016 to find out the actual damage to ones hair cells maybe in the future we will, and those scales would be readjusted based on individual cases.

There aren't risk of overprotecting - yes it's unpleasant to hear ones T with plugs but I guess that's something I'm ready to do if it means no worsening

 

[Thomt]

I think that's my problem I over protect my ears so now they can't handle loud noises too well. I work in the clean room in a Semiconductor Company the noise is loud but it is in the safety range. I think maybe I'm just overreacting to it I hope. Because it does go back to my normal range.

 

[Alue]

These scales are there to protect employers or business - in practice some people will be fine and some won't there isn't any way in 2016 to find out the actual damage to ones hair cells maybe in the future we will, and those scales would be readjusted based on individual cases.

There aren't risk of overprotecting - yes it's unpleasant to hear ones T with plugs but I guess that's something I'm ready to do if it means no worsening

It sucks because my work office has a loud server in it, and there is an intercom that is sometimes loud, I hate wearing earplugs all workday, yes when I go into noisy areas of course, but in the office it just sucks because my T screams when I put earplugs in. It's a catch 22 because the more you listen to your T, the louder it seems sometimes. That's something I wondered early on, you are forming new neural pathways every day, and listening to T constantly can't be a good thing either.

 

[Thomt]

Hate to say lol but I'm in the same boat. I'm protecting my ears but I hear the ringing a lot more. Then they scream all day. But they calm down some at night. .

 

[Bobby B]

Its a tough one indeed - I am lucky to be in a quiet office and had to fight hard to be moved to the quiet spots , away from loud copymachines and fans and doors etc..

One thing I was doing is to use some high quality ear buds sending low level masking sound like chimes or crickets from my iPhone wiht a good pair of ear muffs over this - so you get good protection with the muffs - Peltor x5a are the best choice - and a minimum of ambient high frequncy sound to calm the T .

Muffs are better than plugs for extended use as they let the earwax flow out and don't irritate the ear canal.

 

[Alue]

Its a tough one indeed - I am lucky to be in a quiet office and had to fight hard to be moved to the quiet spots , away from loud copymachines and fans and doors etc..

One thing I was doing is to use some high quality ear buds sending low level masking sound like chimes or crickets from my iPhone wiht a good pair of ear muffs over this - so you get good protection with the muffs - Peltor x5a are the best choice - and a minimum of ambient high frequncy sound to calm the T .

Muffs are better than plugs for extended use as they let the earwax flow out and don't irritate the ear canal.

Yeah, I tried this, but I really don't like the earbuds. I bought some noise isolating headphones by directsound, and while they're not bad they don't isolate as well as my earmuffs.

I really don't like masking tracts too much either. At home listening to the crickets outside is better than any masking, it doesn't really mask my T, but it does seem to distract from it. Cricket audio files don't seem to have the same effect.