Preaching Sound Avoidance — How Can You Permanently Limit Exposure to Sounds?

[vermillion]

From the time I got tinnitus I never went to a gig, club, cinema etc.
I do believe that earplugs are not sufficient to protect you from those instances.
Traffic noise in the city where I live is bad mostly due to motorbikes/motorcycles which are extremely popular here. I never ever walked down the street without protection. I had been using also those bulky Peltor muffs and looked like an alien to protect, even though my hyperacusis wasn't that bothersome. I quit my profession completely which involves music in order not to make my condition even worse. That being said, I totally changed my lifestyle limiting sound exposure as much as possible. Yet... my tinnitus kept getting worse and on top of that I ended up with hyperacusis. My strategy failed big time.

What else should I do? Let's suppose that from now I stay in my room for the rest of my life, so I can stay away from ALL sounds forever. How is that possible? A person has to go to the groceries, has sometimes to interact with the state services (in my country you can't do that online) and most important you must have an income which involves work. The latter one cannot be provided by a someone else in my case. My mother is old and unemployed and my father just died.

So how do you limit exposure to even moderate sounds for the rest of your life?
@Bill Bauer?

 

[dan]

Your strategy actually worked, until you used that foot cream. Just keep doing what you did before and dont use that F cream.

 

[Brooklyn NY]

Hi, I have been trying to avoid loud sounds since November 2017, when I first had tinnitus.the cause was most likely pepto Bismo and aspercreme.

The answer is that you try your best to stay away from obvious threats like ambulance sirens, construction sites, fireworks, loud public events,and headphones. Always carry ear plugs for when something comes up unexpectedly. That is the best you can do. Good luck.

 

[valeri]

From the time I got tinnitus I never went to a gig, club, cinema etc.
I do believe that earplugs are not sufficient to protect you from those instances.
Traffic noise in the city where I live is bad mostly due to motorbikes/motorcycles which are extremely popular here. I never ever walked down the street without protection. I had been using also those bulky Peltor muffs and looked like an alien to protect, even though my hyperacusis wasn't that bothersome. I quit my profession completely which involves music in order not to make my condition even worse. That being said, I totally changed my lifestyle limiting sound exposure as much as possible. Yet... my tinnitus kept getting worse and on top of that I ended up with hyperacusis. My strategy failed big time.

What else should I do? Let's suppose that from now I stay in my room for the rest of my life, so I can stay away from ALL sounds forever. How is that possible? A person has to go to the groceries, has sometimes to interact with the state services (in my country you can't do that online) and most important you must have an income which involves work. The latter one cannot be provided by a someone else in my case. My mother is old and unemployed and my father just died.

So how do you limit exposure to even moderate sounds for the rest of your life?
@Bill Bauer?

It's mission impossible. We can only avoid most obvious and loudest but, from my personal experience, even with the best of intention there will always be an unexpected noise exposure.

Either caused by us or somebody else it's simply unavoidable unless one can afford permanent isolation inside.

Even then there's no guarantee it won't go worse, by now we all know it's got a mind of its own.
This thing is absolutely crazy!

 

[Blue28]

You can't avoid noise 100% sadly

 

[PeteJ]

From the time I got tinnitus I never went to a gig, club, cinema etc.
I do believe that earplugs are not sufficient to protect you from those instances.
Traffic noise in the city where I live is bad mostly due to motorbikes/motorcycles which are extremely popular here. I never ever walked down the street without protection. I had been using also those bulky Peltor muffs and looked like an alien to protect, even though my hyperacusis wasn't that bothersome. I quit my profession completely which involves music in order not to make my condition even worse. That being said, I totally changed my lifestyle limiting sound exposure as much as possible. Yet... my tinnitus kept getting worse and on top of that I ended up with hyperacusis. My strategy failed big time.

What else should I do? Let's suppose that from now I stay in my room for the rest of my life, so I can stay away from ALL sounds forever. How is that possible? A person has to go to the groceries, has sometimes to interact with the state services (in my country you can't do that online) and most important you must have an income which involves work. The latter one cannot be provided by a someone else in my case. My mother is old and unemployed and my father just died.

So how do you limit exposure to even moderate sounds for the rest of your life?
@Bill Bauer?

It's impossible unless you can live in the country.
I live in a noisy area of the city. I posted all about that before. No one could help. I answered why I can't move.
It sounds like you live in a noisy area? Can you move? My tinnitus worsened but I am not sure if it was from noise. I mean, I am not sure what to think anymore. I remember one time when I recognized it had gotten worse. There was no previous noise. I was sitting down. Yet, a shrieking loud noise from an overhead speaker in a grocery store seemed to cause a spike and my tinnitus was worse.
But, generally, I don't think you can avoid noise. If I wore ear plugs and my muffs all the time, I would have discomfort and pain in and around my ears constantly. When I wear ear plugs, my canals get sore soon afterwards and I hate hearing tinnitus without any masking at all which happens when wearing plugs or muffs.

So I am screwed. Damned if saying.

I have no good advice but I carry plugs with me just in case and I bring muffs with at various times including in the car every time. I am only living right now because I can't figure out how to off myself. If I am still here, I will try the Frequency treatment and failing that, I really believe I will be desperate enough then (if not sooner).

Right now, my tinnitus is screaming and my left ear is in a lot of pain.

I don't know why. The noises tonight have been typical. Nothing overly loud so far yet my tinnitus escalated as usual around this time and my ear is often in pain and sometimes there's no obvious explanation or good theory for it.