Should I Quit My Job? — I Work Part Time at a School Where There Are Loud Kids, School Bells, etc.

[MikeO123]

Hey everyone,

I work part time at a school and I'm wondering if I should quit. It's 5 days a week, 3.5 hours a day. At my job I teach a couple after school classes. It's loud with the kids yelling, people on the microphone, school bells etc.

About a week ago I got a tinnitus spike and it seems like it's starting to subside. I'm grateful my supervisor gave me the week off because of it.

I'd hate to leave the job but would I be making my tinnitus worse by staying? Do you think it would be fine to stay if I wore earplugs? I was planning on wearing silicone earplugs but it's pretty annoying to talk/yell in them with the occlusion effect. I tried Mack's musician earplugs. They were great at first but then started to hurt my ears.

Thank you very much for your help. Really not sure what to do right now.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Do you think it would be fine to stay if I wore earplugs?

I didn't read all the above comments, but did peruse a fair amount of it, and ran across many good points on both sides of the argument. What strikes me is there seems to be an underlying assumption (of course I may be wrong on this) that all brains and neurological systems are created equal. The way I see it, that's simply not the case, so everybody's way of dealing with tinnitus and/or hyperacusis is going to have to be highly individualized.

I read a book many years ago called "Adrenal Syndrome". A lot of the book touched on the residual resiliency of people's adrenal glands as they respond to life's stresses. Very low resiliency often resulted in months/years of chronic debilitating exhaustion following a stressful event(s) in their lives. Very high resiliency indicated essentially the opposite. The author broke this down into some rough numbers:

25% of people have low resiliency, meaning normal life stressors will often send them into some degree of a tailspin.
25% of people have high resiliency, meaning that no matter how severe a stressor comes into their lives, they will be able to cope without becoming debilitated to any degree.
50% of people fall somewhere inbetween.

I believe there are some kind of corresponding numbers for a person's brain and neurological resiliency as well, which can greatly affect the ability to cope with tinnitus. (I believe adrenal resiliency also plays a major role in our ability to cope). -- Based on these assumptions, it's pretty easy for me to conclude that what may be overprotection for one person will be underprotection for another, and vice versa.

I think the main point to understand for someone new to tinnitus is that their path forward is going to be a lot of "testing the waters". Generally, IMHO, it's going to take a few weeks or months to get important insights that will help us achieve a healthy balance. In all likelihood, most people are going to learn from experience when their over-protecting or under-protecting.

I've come to believe however, that in those early months, if one is going to err in either direction, it should be toward overprotection. It just seems to me the consequences of underprotection (which could result in permanent injury) in those early times are much more dire than the consequences of overprotection--which as I understand, generally results in temporary setbacks.

Doing a number of things to better support the brain and neurological system and the body's stress response (adrenal glands) is quite high on my list of recommendations I would make to anybody with tinnitus. Doing so might even prevent phonophobia or OCD, etc., as we go through our learning curves -- Just my 2 cents worth.

Personally, if I were you, I would quit that job.

 

[Lilah]

Find another job first. Stress from financial issues etc can increase tinnitus.

 

[coffee_girl]

You can wear soft ear protection like swimmer's plugs, it is enough to protect your ears against small incidents while being comfortable enough that it will still allow you to hear your surroundings.

 

[Bill Bauer]

You can wear soft ear protection like swimmer's plugs, it is enough to protect your ears against small incidents while being comfortable enough that it will still allow you to hear your surroundings.

Earplugs can provide a false sense of security

Oh go you'll be fine they said. Wear earplugs they said.

So I went to the event with ear plugs. Was there for only a few minutes. Big mistake. Gave me low drone/hum that's worst than the high pitch hiss/eeeee, tea kettle sounds. Never went away. sigh
3 1/2 years ago.

Everyone is different. Every situation is different.
You have to make a decision and live with it.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/learn-from-others-mistakes.29437/

 

[erik]

Earplugs are better than no earplugs in certain situation. Most people don't take the time to learn how to use them correctly, because you just don't shove them in your ear and hope for the best. Go spend the money and get some customs. You won't be sorry. Night and day difference.

 

[Digital Doc]

Don't let T take your job and your livelihood.

Only you can make this decision, but with silicone earplugs, this job should be doable. You can also get some ear muffs and keep them handy if things get louder than the random yells, such as for a fire drill.

Make sure to take some breaks from the earplugs as you can safely.

 

[Roadglide]

Don't really understand the ear plugs my T is horrible when I plug my ears.

 

[Contrast]

It depends, you have tinnitus.

But do you also experience noise induced pain from everyday normal sounds?

 

[MikeO123]

Don't let T take your job and your livelihood.

Only you can make this decision, but with silicone earplugs, this job should be doable. You can also get some ear muffs and keep them handy if things get louder than the random yells, such as for a fire drill.

Make sure to take some breaks from the earplugs as you can safely.

Yeah I don't want to let it control me. When you say silicone earplugs do you mean the soft moldable ones? I bought a pair of ear muffs and will definitely keep them with me when I go places.

 

[MikeO123]

It depends, you have tinnitus.

But do you also experience noise induced pain from everyday normal sounds?

I have tinnitus but no actual pain from everyday sounds.

 

[kmohoruk]

Earplugs are better than no earplugs in certain situation. Most people don't take the time to learn how to use them correctly, because you just don't shove them in your ear and hope for the best. Go spend the money and get some customs. You won't be sorry. Night and day difference.

This. I have a pair of silicone musician ear plugs with high level filters that protect me from most everyday sounds - but allow me to hear my surrounding. They are a life saver and would be appropriate for your situation @MikeO123 .

 

[Ruse]

Hey everyone,

I work part time at a school and I'm wondering if I should quit. It's 5 days a week, 3.5 hours a day. At my job I teach a couple after school classes. It's loud with the kids yelling, people on the microphone, school bells etc.

About a week ago I got a tinnitus spike and it seems like it's starting to subside. I'm grateful my supervisor gave me the week off because of it.

I'd hate to leave the job but would I be making my tinnitus worse by staying? Do you think it would be fine to stay if I wore earplugs? I was planning on wearing silicone earplugs but it's pretty annoying to talk/yell in them with the occlusion effect. I tried Mack's musician earplugs. They were great at first but then started to hurt my ears.

Thank you very much for your help. Really not sure what to do right now.

How loud do the kids etc get? Have you tried measuring the volume of these sounds with a decibel meter app on your phone?

The vast majority of people with tinnitus and or hearing damage don't need to protect their ears from normal every day sounds.

My advice would be absolutely not to quit unless you are certain that you are getting hearing damage from your place of work.

 

[Digital Doc]

Yeah I don't want to let it control me. When you say silicone earplugs do you mean the soft moldable ones? I bought a pair of ear muffs and will definitely keep them with me when I go places.

Not the soft moldable ones, the silicone ones like the 3M ones.

https://www.amazon.com/3M-100805294...cone+earplugs&qid=1559581985&s=gateway&sr=8-3

 

[Tweaker]

Hey everyone,

I work part time at a school and I'm wondering if I should quit. It's 5 days a week, 3.5 hours a day. At my job I teach a couple after school classes. It's loud with the kids yelling, people on the microphone, school bells etc.

About a week ago I got a tinnitus spike and it seems like it's starting to subside. I'm grateful my supervisor gave me the week off because of it.

I'd hate to leave the job but would I be making my tinnitus worse by staying? Do you think it would be fine to stay if I wore earplugs? I was planning on wearing silicone earplugs but it's pretty annoying to talk/yell in them with the occlusion effect. I tried Mack's musician earplugs. They were great at first but then started to hurt my ears.

Thank you very much for your help. Really not sure what to do right now.

I find the Alpine party plugs take off the edge but allow you to communicate. They may be worth a go. Cheap and easy to put in and remove from ears.

 

[MikeO123]

Not the soft moldable ones, the silicone ones like the 3M ones.

https://www.amazon.com/3M-100805294...cone+earplugs&qid=1559581985&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Thanks! just ordered a pair to try them out

 

[MikeO123]

I find the Alpine party plugs take off the edge but allow you to communicate. They may be worth a go. Cheap and easy to put in and remove from ears.

Thanks! Just ordered them. Being able to communicate with them is really important to me.

 

[MikeO123]

How loud do the kids etc get? Have you tried measuring the volume of these sounds with a decibel meter app on your phone?

The vast majority of people with tinnitus and or hearing damage don't need to protect their ears from normal every day sounds.

My advice would be absolutely not to quit unless you are certain that you are getting hearing damage from your place of work.

I never measured the decibels but they can get really loud sometimes. Also my supervisors speak on the microphone and yell on the microphone sometimes as well. I never had a problem with it before though so maybe it's not as loud as I think.

 

[Digital Doc]

Thanks! just ordered a pair to try them out

You are welcome. I cut the string off of mine that was easy to do with a scissor.

I find that the musician plugs are like "half protection," but still hear conversation quite well. The silicone plugs I suggested are a notch more protective. If you need more than that, then go to a good fitting foam plug, but with those it is harder to hear conversation. Really, you need to get some options, and try them all out for yourself, but thankfully they are all pretty inexpensive.

Did you get an audiogram?

 

[MikeO123]

You are welcome. I cut the string off of mine that was easy to do with a scissor.

I find that the musician plugs are like "half protection," but still hear conversation quite well. The silicone plugs I suggested are a notch more protective. If you need more than that, then go to a good fitting foam plug, but with those it is harder to hear conversation. Really, you need to get some options, and try them all out for yourself, but thankfully they are all pretty inexpensive.

Did you get an audiogram?

How do find talking to be with the 3m silicone ones? Since I'll be doing a lot of talking . With the soft moldable ones the occlusion effects is really bad for me. yeah I got an audiogram, they said I have no hearing loss.

 

[Digital Doc]

How do find talking to be with the 3m silicone ones? Since I'll be doing a lot of talking . With the soft moldable ones the occlusion effects is really bad for me. yeah I got an audiogram, they said I have no hearing loss.

All earplugs give some occlusion effect. I have never tried the soft moldable ones, so can't make a comparison. I have just learned to speak at my normal tone and volume, and it works out fine.

 

[JohnFox]

Don't really understand the ear plugs my T is horrible when I plug my ears.

There is different types of tinnitus. The kind that I have is very much affected by ambient noise. With my tinnitus, it actually gets much better when I am in a very quiet environment, and the opposite when I am in a noisy environment. Thus, I absolutely have to insert earplugs or wear NC headphones whenever I am in a place like a coffee shop, etc. I have extreme hyperacusis in my left ear, and that feeds the tinnitus in my right deaf ear.

 

[Alue]

With my tinnitus, it actually gets much better when I am in a very quiet environment, and the opposite when I am in a noisy environment.

That sounds similar to my tinnitus. It's difficult to navigate life when loud noises are so ubiquitous.

 

[Contrast]

I got an audiogram, they said I have no hearing loss.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/new-reactive-whistling-tinnitus-sound-—-will-it-go-away.35018/

In this thread you said you had a history of loud noise possibly causing your tinnitus.

How could someone with noise induced tinnitus, not have some hearing deficit?

Maybe the audiogram is inaccurate.
https://hyperacusisfocus.org/innerear/#hiddenloss

 

[MikeO123]

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/new-reactive-whistling-tinnitus-sound-—-will-it-go-away.35018/

In this thread you said you had a history of loud noise possibly causing your tinnitus.

How could someone with noise induced tinnitus, not have some hearing deficit?

Maybe the audiogram is inaccurate.
https://hyperacusisfocus.org/innerear/#hiddenloss

Yeah I was suprised when they told me that. I'm wondering if my initial tinnitus wasn't caused by acoustic trauma and maybe just this latest spike was? Is that possible? About a year ago when I first noticed my tinnitus there was no acoustic trauma I can recall. I definitely don't notice any hearing loss.

 

[Contrast]

Yeah I was suprised when they told me that. I'm wondering if my initial tinnitus wasn't caused by acoustic trauma and maybe just this latest spike was? Is that possible? About a year ago when I first noticed my tinnitus there was no acoustic trauma I can recall. I definitely don't notice any hearing loss.

I was being sarcastic but if you read the paper about hidden hearing loss, you will realize the hearing test is missing a whole lot of information. When a hearing test tells you have normal or even perfect hearing, it just means you don't have any hearing loss in the bare vitals of human speech range.

Tinnitus in most cases is linked to hearing loss
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4208401/

 

[Damiano]

Earplugs are better than no earplugs in certain situation. Most people don't take the time to learn how to use them correctly, because you just don't shove them in your ear and hope for the best. Go spend the money and get some customs. You won't be sorry. Night and day difference.

I'm very interested in this. May I ask what kind of shop can take measurements and produce custom ear plugs? I googled it but didn't find much. I found this for example https://www.acscustom.com/uk/how-to-buy but I am not so sure. I'm often in London UK and could try to find a shop there.

 

[TnH]

Check out dBud for some adjustable discreet earplugs

 

[Allan1967]

Hey everyone,

I work part time at a school and I'm wondering if I should quit. It's 5 days a week, 3.5 hours a day. At my job I teach a couple after school classes. It's loud with the kids yelling, people on the microphone, school bells etc.

About a week ago I got a tinnitus spike and it seems like it's starting to subside. I'm grateful my supervisor gave me the week off because of it.

I'd hate to leave the job but would I be making my tinnitus worse by staying? Do you think it would be fine to stay if I wore earplugs? I was planning on wearing silicone earplugs but it's pretty annoying to talk/yell in them with the occlusion effect. I tried Mack's musician earplugs. They were great at first but then started to hurt my ears.

Thank you very much for your help. Really not sure what to do right now.

I have to go to schools as part of my job... What a freakin nightmare.

 

[Daniel Lion]

It depends, you have tinnitus.

But do you also experience noise induced pain from everyday normal sounds?

Yes.
That's why I have given up teaching after 16 years.
Miss the kids, the energy, the love.
But my ears were suffering so much, I was popping pills just to get through the day.
Had to quit, sadly.
Self preservation... Such is life.