Outside, I was wearing earplugs about halfway in my ear, not fully in , they have a NRR rating of 33. All of a sudden someone in their car parked about 10 meters away from me starts revving their engine exhaust really loud and shocks me and forces me to leave the area immediately, I was only exposed for a few seconds, that was a few hours ago, right now I’m still wearing the earplugs, but my left ear canal kind of still hurts not too severe, and i have a very faint ringing, I can’t notice it. Will this kind of short exposure make me have permanent hearing loss? Is this just anxiety thats messing with me? Has anyone had a similar experience about this with people in their cars doing this to be jerks?
Why are you wearing earplugs in quiet?
It gets noisy outside from where iam.
Just take a hearing test or visit an ENT to be sure
I recommend a psychiatrist!
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Wouldn’t have thought it worthy of consideration. There are many environments that are way more likely to induce hearing damage and even in these cases, exposure needs to be sustained to lead to damage.
You’re a ‘worried-well’. Move on and get over it…
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Certainly wear earplugs in situations that call for it (e.g. using heavy machinery, going to musical concerts). It’s a bad idea to wear earplugs consistently in relatively quiet situations.
I would say stop wearing the earplugs unless you live in an environment which is right next to say a building site which has heavy machinery operating all the time i agree with what Neville has said
You oughta try a .45acp caliber when you forgot to put your hearing protection on…that is worthy of concern and probably 24-30 dB
(I.e., a thousand times worse) above your example…im still hearing and alive.
You can download a sound meter app. OSHA recommends no more than 85 db for 8 hours, then 10 hours of rest, less than 70 db, to avoid damage. The sound meter app will help you recognize your noise environment. My guess is that it is not as loud as you think, but measure it and see.
Phone apps for sound measurement clip at around 89 dB due to the dynamic range of the mic. You won’t get a reading above that even if it is louder.
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