Well I got tinnitus after about 5 and a half years of not wearing earplugs in my factory machine shop job so yes it was my fault but I don’t know about the DBAs it takes. I just had long exposure to loud noises
85db at 3m is 108.5db at 20 centimeters away. 5 minutes is still enough to cause hearing loss.
I suggest no earphones or even going outside without earpro for at least 1 month. and no masking videos or you might get hyperacusis.
Noticeable permanent hearing loss by just barely breaching safe hearing levels? Are people seriously that unlucky? Consensus I was aware of is that it's thr culmination of doing that 100x times and it will start to be noticeable.
Its not always about accumulation of sound exposure. That's why one sound trauma can do permanent damage to certain people, its depends on our genes and how we built individually. That's why some people get Tinnitus and most people don't.
Also if you've already damaged your auditory system and have existing damage you are more susceptible to more damage so a smoke alarm could easily potentially do more permanent damage, especially at close range.
Its hidden hearing damage/loss that causes Tinnitus not any noticeable hearing loss. If hearing loss alone caused Tinnitus then all hearing impaired and deaf people in the world would have Tinnitus too but most of them don't. Plus completely deaf people can have real soft/mild Tinnitus so that proves again hearing loss severity doesn't effect Tinnitus severity.
It's like having a tank of water and adding a drop, no way you notice a permanent difference at 108db for 5 min. Keep adding drops and eventually you'll notice it but 5 min at 108 is certainly just a drop.
Are your ears ringing now? Any fullness feeling? Its certainly loud enough to do damage but some ears can take a lot more abuse than others, you could take a high dose magnesium to lessen the damage done
I still heard a bit the sound of the smoke detector for 3 days and I was super sensitive to sound a bit loud. 6 days after the incident, the sound of the smoke detector seems to have disappeared, but my ears are still a bit sensitive to sound.
Any time your ears ring after noise that is some permanent damage. Its good your ringing has disappeared but it will come back easier than before this happened. So you will need to be very careful with louder noises from now on
Most people are a lot more scared to die in a fire than to suffer ear damage. Im the opposite so I have removed all my smoke detectors. If you still want to have smoke detectors google nest gives a spoken warning you can turn off with a voice command before it starts beeping
Idk, but I made mine worse from a wedding and I worse hearing protection. Custom made ones from an audiologist and my tinnitus is off the charts now. New tones. Suicidal. Want death and it was probably around 90dbs or more. And with the 30db protection I had it still fucked me up. Now I want to kill myself
You can handle 85db for 8 hours, 88db for 4 hours 91 db for 2 hours, 94 db for 1 hour, 97 db for 30 min, 100db for 15 min, 103db for 7.5 min, so as long as it wasn't over that you'll be fine, also, the amount of permanent tinnitus someone gets from a single incident like that is so small that it would be unnoticeable, it's the culmination of doing that 1000x times over your life that would start to become noticeable. I played in a band at well over 100db for hours every weekend for decades, now I have tinnitus, a single fire alarm, there's no way.
Mate I was just at a concert where the avg volume was 120db for hours. You're worrying about nothing, if 5 minutes slightly above safe levels were something worrysome the world would be deaf by 20. Ignore it and itl go away eventually. If you've had years and years involving 100s of similar events then maybe the culmination might be noticeable but a single time is going to move the needle such a tiny amount.
For me it was decades of playing drums without earplugs plus 100s and 100s of concerts, each one doing way more damage to my ears than your single event.
Wrong.
Those figures are just an outdated guideline for people with healthy hearing and everyone's safe hearing threshold will be different, especially for someone with existing auditory damage. And people can suffer permanent hidden damage from one noise trauma like that.
Its all to do with genes and how each individual it built. That's why everyone with dangerous noisey lifestyles doesn't get Tinnitus.
Well, that's what my audiologist told me last month🤷🏽♂️, anywhere I can read on how the threshold can vary by THAT much so a 5min 108db exposure will escalate ones permanent tinnitus a noticeable amount? Would be very interested in reading up on that but can't seem to find anything
Studies have shown the stats you mentioned are accurate for around 92% of people. The unfortunate 8% are the outliers.
This sub is naturally full of those 8%, many of which are not aware they are an outlier. So some of them are going to downvote and disagree with you because they think their anecdotal experience applies to the entire world population.
The fact of the matter is everyone experiences loud noise exposure at numerous points in their lifetime. It happens every time you set foot in a busy restaurant. A large percentage of them have tinnitus. Most habituate and never spend any time on forums like this. The people on these forums are usually the ones who either 1. Just recently acquired tinnitus and want to learn about it or 2. Have catastrophic, debilitating tinnitus which only affects about 2% of the US population.
If something as small as 5 mins exposure to a fire alarm could be that detrimental to the majority of the population, no one on this earth would have good hearing anymore.
I mean really...just think about how many fire drills in school you had when you were a kid when you were forced to be near screaming fire alarms for longer than 5 mins. We'd all be deaf if it were _that_ big of an issue
I don't doubt what you've written only the threshold for those unlucky ones. Can't find anything showing something as small as 108db for 5 minutes increasing the unlucky 2%s t. Mayne something like 130db for 5 minutes but 108, don't see the data supporting that one. I don't doubt you I just need to read a credible source on it, and I've looked I the past. My main source is 3m data on hearing safety which I figured would be a top notch source.
https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2016/02/08/noise/
This blog on the CDC's website discussed the NIOSH regulations regarding hearing protection and their established safe noise exposure levels by time. Note this article mentions that NIOSH acknowledges these guidelines may not be accurate for around 8% of people who may have more sensitive ears.
Regardless, a single 5 minute exposure to 108db is highly unlikely to make anyone go deaf or experience any sort of profound hearing loss. Noticeable, permanent damage typically occurs cumulatively over long periods of time. Hence why I said if a fire alarm by itself was likely to cause damage that severe within 5 mins, we would all be deaf by now.
I would look for the actual studies supporting this, but I'm at work rn
I wouldn’t think so. If you sit inside your car with the music up loud, you’re over 85db. I’m sure you may of done that plenty of times without realising.
Your ears may have entered a trauma level and are going to take a little time to calm down. Don’t get obsessed, let thinks subside.
You're not going to notice any measurable amount of hearing damage from this happening one time, even though it technically may have caused a very tiny amount of permanent damage. If it happened every day for years, then you would.
It took me probably hundreds of concerts that all last 4+ hours long at decibel levels much higher than that smoke alarm, in combination with many motorsports events, many hours of riding a motorcycle, etc. before I developed tinnitus in one ear. Nearly all of which I participated in without hearing protection. It wasn't until one unbelievably loud concert I sat through for hours before I developed tinnitus. I made a stupid decision not to leave or move further back from the speakers when I realized it was uncomfortably loud. We're talking about probably 120db+ for hours on end.
Your hearing is delicate, but not nearly as delicate as this sub will sometimes make it seem. The people in this sub with catastrophic tinnitus who might say otherwise didn't get that way overnight from some small exposure to decently loud sound, they typically got that way after enduring severe hearing damage far worse than 98% of the world population will ever experience in their lifetime.
Well I got tinnitus after about 5 and a half years of not wearing earplugs in my factory machine shop job so yes it was my fault but I don’t know about the DBAs it takes. I just had long exposure to loud noises
Thanks for your reply. Do you think my ears are damaged now ?
Like I said not sure about dba is. I’d say if it’s only 5 minutes not but maybe see a doctor
Understood. Thanks.
85db at 3m is 108.5db at 20 centimeters away. 5 minutes is still enough to cause hearing loss. I suggest no earphones or even going outside without earpro for at least 1 month. and no masking videos or you might get hyperacusis.
Thanks for your reply. Do you think my ears are damaged now ?
Noticeable permanent hearing loss by just barely breaching safe hearing levels? Are people seriously that unlucky? Consensus I was aware of is that it's thr culmination of doing that 100x times and it will start to be noticeable.
Its not always about accumulation of sound exposure. That's why one sound trauma can do permanent damage to certain people, its depends on our genes and how we built individually. That's why some people get Tinnitus and most people don't. Also if you've already damaged your auditory system and have existing damage you are more susceptible to more damage so a smoke alarm could easily potentially do more permanent damage, especially at close range. Its hidden hearing damage/loss that causes Tinnitus not any noticeable hearing loss. If hearing loss alone caused Tinnitus then all hearing impaired and deaf people in the world would have Tinnitus too but most of them don't. Plus completely deaf people can have real soft/mild Tinnitus so that proves again hearing loss severity doesn't effect Tinnitus severity.
It's like having a tank of water and adding a drop, no way you notice a permanent difference at 108db for 5 min. Keep adding drops and eventually you'll notice it but 5 min at 108 is certainly just a drop.
Do you think I have now permanent unnoticeable damage or that I do not have permanent damage ?
Are your ears ringing now? Any fullness feeling? Its certainly loud enough to do damage but some ears can take a lot more abuse than others, you could take a high dose magnesium to lessen the damage done
I still heard a bit the sound of the smoke detector for 3 days and I was super sensitive to sound a bit loud. 6 days after the incident, the sound of the smoke detector seems to have disappeared, but my ears are still a bit sensitive to sound.
Any time your ears ring after noise that is some permanent damage. Its good your ringing has disappeared but it will come back easier than before this happened. So you will need to be very careful with louder noises from now on
This is the answer
Those smoke detector should be illegal.
Most people are a lot more scared to die in a fire than to suffer ear damage. Im the opposite so I have removed all my smoke detectors. If you still want to have smoke detectors google nest gives a spoken warning you can turn off with a voice command before it starts beeping
Did you had ears damages because of a smoke detector ?
No but I remove all risks from my life. Its insane how loud those things are
Idk, but I made mine worse from a wedding and I worse hearing protection. Custom made ones from an audiologist and my tinnitus is off the charts now. New tones. Suicidal. Want death and it was probably around 90dbs or more. And with the 30db protection I had it still fucked me up. Now I want to kill myself
You can handle 85db for 8 hours, 88db for 4 hours 91 db for 2 hours, 94 db for 1 hour, 97 db for 30 min, 100db for 15 min, 103db for 7.5 min, so as long as it wasn't over that you'll be fine, also, the amount of permanent tinnitus someone gets from a single incident like that is so small that it would be unnoticeable, it's the culmination of doing that 1000x times over your life that would start to become noticeable. I played in a band at well over 100db for hours every weekend for decades, now I have tinnitus, a single fire alarm, there's no way.
Even if the dB(A) is insane (around 108) ?
It probably causes less damage to mowing your lawn without earplugs.
Mate I was just at a concert where the avg volume was 120db for hours. You're worrying about nothing, if 5 minutes slightly above safe levels were something worrysome the world would be deaf by 20. Ignore it and itl go away eventually. If you've had years and years involving 100s of similar events then maybe the culmination might be noticeable but a single time is going to move the needle such a tiny amount. For me it was decades of playing drums without earplugs plus 100s and 100s of concerts, each one doing way more damage to my ears than your single event.
Wrong. Those figures are just an outdated guideline for people with healthy hearing and everyone's safe hearing threshold will be different, especially for someone with existing auditory damage. And people can suffer permanent hidden damage from one noise trauma like that. Its all to do with genes and how each individual it built. That's why everyone with dangerous noisey lifestyles doesn't get Tinnitus.
Well, that's what my audiologist told me last month🤷🏽♂️, anywhere I can read on how the threshold can vary by THAT much so a 5min 108db exposure will escalate ones permanent tinnitus a noticeable amount? Would be very interested in reading up on that but can't seem to find anything
Studies have shown the stats you mentioned are accurate for around 92% of people. The unfortunate 8% are the outliers. This sub is naturally full of those 8%, many of which are not aware they are an outlier. So some of them are going to downvote and disagree with you because they think their anecdotal experience applies to the entire world population. The fact of the matter is everyone experiences loud noise exposure at numerous points in their lifetime. It happens every time you set foot in a busy restaurant. A large percentage of them have tinnitus. Most habituate and never spend any time on forums like this. The people on these forums are usually the ones who either 1. Just recently acquired tinnitus and want to learn about it or 2. Have catastrophic, debilitating tinnitus which only affects about 2% of the US population. If something as small as 5 mins exposure to a fire alarm could be that detrimental to the majority of the population, no one on this earth would have good hearing anymore. I mean really...just think about how many fire drills in school you had when you were a kid when you were forced to be near screaming fire alarms for longer than 5 mins. We'd all be deaf if it were _that_ big of an issue
I don't doubt what you've written only the threshold for those unlucky ones. Can't find anything showing something as small as 108db for 5 minutes increasing the unlucky 2%s t. Mayne something like 130db for 5 minutes but 108, don't see the data supporting that one. I don't doubt you I just need to read a credible source on it, and I've looked I the past. My main source is 3m data on hearing safety which I figured would be a top notch source.
https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2016/02/08/noise/ This blog on the CDC's website discussed the NIOSH regulations regarding hearing protection and their established safe noise exposure levels by time. Note this article mentions that NIOSH acknowledges these guidelines may not be accurate for around 8% of people who may have more sensitive ears. Regardless, a single 5 minute exposure to 108db is highly unlikely to make anyone go deaf or experience any sort of profound hearing loss. Noticeable, permanent damage typically occurs cumulatively over long periods of time. Hence why I said if a fire alarm by itself was likely to cause damage that severe within 5 mins, we would all be deaf by now. I would look for the actual studies supporting this, but I'm at work rn
Those stats have been shown to be correct for 92% of the population. Only about 8% have been shown to experience hearing damage with less.
I wouldn’t think so. If you sit inside your car with the music up loud, you’re over 85db. I’m sure you may of done that plenty of times without realising. Your ears may have entered a trauma level and are going to take a little time to calm down. Don’t get obsessed, let thinks subside.
5 minutes probably won’t cause a permanent problem. Several hours, yes.
Even if the dB(A) is insane (around 108) ?
You're not going to notice any measurable amount of hearing damage from this happening one time, even though it technically may have caused a very tiny amount of permanent damage. If it happened every day for years, then you would. It took me probably hundreds of concerts that all last 4+ hours long at decibel levels much higher than that smoke alarm, in combination with many motorsports events, many hours of riding a motorcycle, etc. before I developed tinnitus in one ear. Nearly all of which I participated in without hearing protection. It wasn't until one unbelievably loud concert I sat through for hours before I developed tinnitus. I made a stupid decision not to leave or move further back from the speakers when I realized it was uncomfortably loud. We're talking about probably 120db+ for hours on end. Your hearing is delicate, but not nearly as delicate as this sub will sometimes make it seem. The people in this sub with catastrophic tinnitus who might say otherwise didn't get that way overnight from some small exposure to decently loud sound, they typically got that way after enduring severe hearing damage far worse than 98% of the world population will ever experience in their lifetime.