Tinnitus

I’m quite sensitive to noise and have been taking precautions like wearing ear pro and avoiding loud noises for a few years now. Nevertheless, I still seem to do something about once a year that makes my tinnitus flare up again, so I thought I’d list some of the unexpected sources I’ve been caught out by.

Noise sources

• Driving – driving can be an insidious source of hearing damage. Components can wear out gradually, gradually increasing the noise levels in the car. Noises can be low frequency, which is harder to notice. Examples:

  • Tyres, bushings, suspension and steering components wearing out. Increases transmission of road noise into the cabin.

  • Exhaust deterioration causing gradually increasing leakage of combustion noise. Low rumbling/burbling sound.

  • Other engine and drivetrain components (e.g. bearings, belts, pulleys, anything that spins) also wear out.

  • Low engine oil level can increase noise.

• Any noisy power tool or appliance. This includes hoovers, washing machines, and seemingly less noisy tools like battery drills.

  • Holding a drill close to your head makes a big difference. Sound pressure increases non-linearly with proximity. This also goes for things like crossing the street to avoid construction noise.

• Loud bars/restaurants.

• Traffic.

• Travel, in general. For example:

  • Smaller passenger planes such as the De Havilland DASH-8 (turbo prop) allow much more engine noise into the cabin, and it seems more sensitive to seating position, although nowhere was comfortable on the DASH-8 I flew on.

  • With the vents open, track noise from the London Underground.

  • I am fairly sure the PA speakers on planes and trains are above the hearing damage threshold on at least most of the last few trips I’ve taken with Virgin Atlantic, Norse Atlantic, and UK train services.

Healing & prevention

Protection

• You can reduce effective noise pollution to zero by putting your hands over your ears. I wish more people would do this: it’s easy and free, the only reason not to do it is to avoid looking weird to strangers. I wish more people would do this.

• I also like Loop earplugs and silicone earplugs. Loop are rated for less noise reduction but silicone are less convenient, and the protection you actually use…

Healing

• Tinnitus can subside over time. Healing will be better the more you can avoid noise exposure – block your ears and/or cross the street to avoid construction etc.

• See How I Cured My Screeching Tinnitus by Karin Badt, who is also the author of the premolar extraction survey.

General

• It can be hard to recognise noise levels that are over the threshold if it hasn’t occurred to you yet to think of them. Also, noise is inherently distracting in a way that makes it hard to notice the noise – you often notice the noise stopping without having consciously noticed the noise in the first place.

• Driving is a good example that can creep up on you from gradual wear and tear to damping components etc.

• In general, city environments are ridiculously loud, and the increasing background noise throughout the day can make it hard to notice just how loud cars are if you’re walking about.

• Washing/kitchen appliances are another one that I think it’s worth making a few small behaviour changes to mitigate, especially if you already have tinnitus.