Tinnitus from Shooting a Handgun with No Hearing Protection

I went to an ENT on December 7th, 2023. They put me on 14-day high dose Prednisone taper. I have lost 50% of hearing in both ears. I have tinnitus mainly in the left ear.

I will keep all of you posted on progress and outcome.

 

I'm so sorry to hear this. Stay strong.

 

Hang in there, there is hope.

Both My Hearing Loss and Tinnitus (Almost) Cured — Caused by .223 Sniper Rifle Fired Near My Ear | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum

 

Sorry you are going thru this. What kind of gun did you shoot? How many rounds? Can you elaborate on what happened?

 

This is an update to my earlier posting.

The incident happened on Black Friday 2023, I'm 72 years old and should have known my ears weren't what they used to be. I had grown up shooting pistols without hearing protection, but this time I didn't get away with it. I shot a newly purchased Smith & Wesson M&P 9ml Compact pistol, all 50 rounds in the woods.

I thought the ringing would go away just like coming home from the drag races.

The ringing didn't go away that night so I went to the ENT and an audiogram showed hearing loss in both ears with the left ear being worse.

The Prednisone treatment was of no help. The tinnitus is in my left ear.

I bought some hearing aids from the audiologist and they help to restore my hearing as much as possible.

Like everyone else on Tinnitus Talk, trying to get to sleep is the difficult part. I take Melatonin 5 mg and use a sound machine, but the hearing loss is so profound in my left ear that I'm having trouble hearing the sound machine.

I really feel stupid from not protecting my hearing, that old saying an ounce of prevention...

I hope over time it will tone down as it takes time to habituate to this distraction. I'm so glad Tinnitus Talk exists so I can share with others what this is like and so that we can lift each other up. I hope one day all of us find a path to silencing the tinnitus.

 

Really sorry, @David Anthony. You seem like you're approaching it in a really measured and positive way. I hope you can make some element of recovery.

 

How did they test for that 50%? 50% hearing loss is only about 6 dB. That wouldn't be bad unless you already had hearing loss before that, but you probably did have at least some. Moderate hearing loss is over 40 dB. I'm more in that range, even worse over 8 kHz.

 

One tip that I’d give is don’t spend an ounce of emotional energy blaming yourself. This is challenging enough without self-flagellation.

 

Here's my audiogram. The tinnitus is in my left ear. I'm sure I had some age-related hearing loss prior to the shooting, being 72 years old.

 

Oh yeah, that's way more than 50% hearing loss, basing half perceived volume being -6 dB to - 10 dB.

I'm quite a bit younger and still have pretty bad hearing loss myself - not sure where my audiogram is, and it's not available online.

 

I’m no audiologist but I’ve been told by more than one that damage from the percussive wave of a gunshot should show up as a distinct narrow notch appearing somewhere is the 4 kHz - 6 kHz range.

I don’t see that in yours, just a bunch of moderate+ hearing loss. Maybe you were primed for this to happen and this was just the trigger that set off the tinnitus cycle.

 

Shooting a Glock 9mm in an indoors shooting range took my tinnitus and pain hyperacusis to a new level. I was wearing good earmuffs. I can't imagine not using hearing protection. I already had severe tinnitus when this happened. But I've shot at open air ranges in the past when I had tinnitus without it getting worse (I was obviously wearing hearing protection).

Firearms are LOUD!

All you can do is to go forward. What has happened has happened, you can't reverse it or go back to fix it. We all make mistakes. Hopefully your tinnitus will improve with time!

 

Great advice @Andrei88 for us all to live by.

 

Thank you @David Anthony for the detailed update. I hope you are getting thru the stress of this.

 

@David Anthony, how are you doing these days? Any reduction in your tinnitus?

 

Hello Mark, thanks for asking about how I'm doing, It's been 2 months.

Last month I went to the audiologist and got some hearings aids, not so much for my right ear but definitely for my left ear which is where I have the most hearing loss and tinnitus.

It has remained the same tone, similar to the sound of a bumblebee, rather annoying but for the most part I try to ignore it by being around a TV, radio, and a sound machine when I go to sleep. I take a 5 mg Melatonin tablet an hour before bed.

I hope research continues to find an affordable way to silence this worldwide condition.

How are things going with you?

 

Glad to hear you are doing ok. If you can manage to get some sleep every night, it makes all the difference in the world, as far as keeping your sanity with tinnitus. I tried Melatonin, but it didn't really have an effect on me. I got 3-4 hours sleep a night (if I was lucky) for my first 4 months, and it was really starting to get to me. But one day I just started getting 6-8 hours sleep again. This saved my sanity (the little I had left... haha).

I have noticed my tinnitus has gotten quieter about 2-3 times now. First time I noticed it was around 4 months in (same time I started sleeping better/longer). Second volume reduction was after 6 months. And I just noticed it's gotten even quieter in the last week (almost 8 months in). I started taking 50 mg Zinc every day a couple weeks ago. You may want to try that out. See if it lowers the volume for you.

Anyway, it sounds like you are doing as well as can be expected. Good luck and I hope you continue to heal.