Sudden Tinnitus Spike After Loud Argument Despite No Immediate Reaction

[somucuagony]

Hi,

A brief backstory: no matter what I eat, my tinnitus does not spike. Even relatively loud noises usually do not affect it.

Yesterday, my sister had a shouting rant. She was extremely loud and mean, and I was only a few meters away from her. I would guess it was over 100 decibels. I tried to calm her down, and afterward, my tinnitus still felt fine. Seven hours later, I went to bed and everything seemed okay.

Now I have woken up with tinnitus that feels six times worse. I feel so dumb. I should have left the house or used noise-cancelling headphones. Am I screwed? It feels so bad.

 

[Jammer]

I find that there is a delay between the acoustic trauma and the resulting spike, just as you described. I usually experience the spike the following day.