Temporary Threshold Shift from Scream in Ear

Hello, so on Friday November 10th evening, I was holding a friend’s 4-year-old child. She was fine and not crying, but the child proceeds out of nowhere to scream on top of her lungs in my left ear. I could literally feel my eardrum vibrate as it was directly in my ear. The next day I got heavy ear fullness, some on/off ear pain and on/off ringing.

It took me a few urgent care visits, until I was started on Prednisone on the 5th say after the incident. The symptoms were staying the same. I’m taking 60 mg to start and then reducing to 40 mg, 20 mg and then 10 mg. I also went to an ENT a few days back and had an audiogram. It indicated mild hearing loss on the left and the ENT said to just keep with the steroids and we’ll go from there. She keeps it open ended. I never thought a scream could do this, but the ENT even stated the objective mild hearing loss that I’m feeling. I’m on day 4 of Prednisone right now and not sure if it’s getting better or worse. It’s worse at night for sure, especially the ringing.

Posting to hear others’ experiences with the fullness/ringing and slight ear pain and the role Prednisone played for them. ENT is happy I started the steroids within the week, but it’s pretty open ended.

This has been really distressing. Glad to find a community where I can learn from others’ experiences.

 

This is an acoustic trauma. It should improve in time. Good luck.

 

Amazing you got on Prednisone that quickly, though some say it needs to be 1-2 days after trauma. 5 days is better than 3.5 weeks when I had the chance - never went on it due to risks. It can make things worse. To be honest, I don't recall reading a positive story about oral Prednisone on Tinnitus Talk, but you may as well try. I'm not saying you should stop it, follow your doctor's advice.

I hope it goes away/improves for you. You need to be forever careful about loud noises. Everyone should, but they don't tell you that. Even if they do, they never tell you about tinnitus or hyperacusis. If only I had known.

Good luck.

 

Thank you for the words of encouragement. I’m hoping so!

Yes, I managed to get an ENT appt on the 5th day where they did a hearing test as well and recognized the hearing loss. Mentioning acoustic trauma and issuing the steroids. I’m on pretty high dosage. 60 mg 7 days, 40 mg 3 days then 20 mg for 3 days. I’m on the 7th day right now. It is tough on my body for sure, but the doctor still thought that because it’s within the week since the trauma, I was a good candidate to give myself a good opportunity. It was hard to say no. I don’t think it’s helping unfortunately and the side effects are pretty intense.

I think the emotional toll of this is just as hard as the physical. Seriously a scream in the ear by a child is what’s going to impact my life like this? My tinnitus is actually getting worse and it just seems all too unreal that this happened.

I’m definitely more mindful of protecting my hearing as it stands. Got good earplugs and don’t listen to my headphones anymore.

Any good success stories of acoustic trauma that can at least give me some inspiration? I know it may not be my story, but I’m tired of hearing permanent acoustic trauma stories online.

Thanks again for your reply! I’m glad I found this forum!