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Did I get tinnitus by shoving chewing gum into my ears?
About a month ago, I experienced a strange turn of events. I will explain everything I did and everything that was said to me.
I work in a factory, so I usually wear earplugs and earmuffs for safety.
One day, I ran out of earplugs. So to improvise, I took a piece of trident chewing gum, chewed it up and plugged it into my ear. I did the same with another piece of a gum for my other ear.
When inserting the gum, I made sure to slide it into my ear canal....but just deep enough so that it was still grabbable at the opening of the canal (so that I can pull it out).
This worked well. It completely sealed my ear canal and blocked sound. So I then put on my ear muffs and went to work.
8 hours later, when I tried to pull out the gum, I encountered problems.
In my left ear, as I was taking out the gum, it broke apart. Then it occured to me that there were bits of gum still left inside the ear canal.
In my right ear, something more alarming had happened. It appeared that the gum had gone deeper into the canal because I was not able to grab it with my fingers.
I then went into the emergency room and the doctor had a look at it. He used some hand tools to pick out the gum from each ear.
He also noted that both of my ears are "plugged with wax". I'm still not sure what this term means, but I think it means that wax collects and hardens up over the eardrum.
I then asked the doctor if the gum could have caused any damage inside my ear canal and he said I had nothing to worry about.
2 days after all this, I once again was at work but had no earplugs. So I just put on my earmuffs (which are technically hunting earmuffs with a 23dB reduction rating) without using earplugs.
2 days later, I started experiencing tinnitus. My left ear has a different type of ringing from my right ear.
So given all this information, what do you think really happened here? Why did I end up getting tinnitus? Could the gum really have gone inside and caused damage?
I'm guessing it was not possible for the gum to make contact with my eardrums because they were plugged with wax? Even in a normal ear, wouldn't wax usually stop chewing gum from reaching the eardrum?
Or do you think the damage occured on the day when I did NOT use earplugs and only had earmuffs on? The earmuffs still offer decent protection. (After all they are designed for gunshots). But they have PVC foam earcups. PVC foam earcups are not as optimal as gel earcups because when your head turns in certain angles, the seal isn't as tight and so some sound can leak in (but only for a short duration).
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I would think that your body heat would have sort of melted the gum. Is that what happened?
Sounds like the day without ear plugs and with ear muffs only might have caused the tinnitus. We cannot say, obviously. Hope your tinnitus is short-lived. You could meet with an ENT to discuss or even, sometimes more helpful, an audiologist who handles tinnitus.
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1 ReactionI hadn't thought of that before, that's a good point. I don't think chewing gum would liquify that easily though. When I pulled it out of my left ear, it still had the texture of regular gum except it was softer.
I have not measured the precise dB levels of my workplace so I don't know how dangerous it is for the ears. My only consolation is that the other employees do not wear ear muffs. They only wear banded earplugs when using machinery (band-saws, grinders, etc.). So maybe I'm overestimating the loudness levels but I can't be sure.
My tinnitus started with an MRI with plugs and ear muffs. That doesn't happen to most people. Then it got worse a few year later from an immersive music event. Many people in the room, classical not rock, and I assume most people didn't get tinnitus. It is possible that some of us have auditory nerves/cranial nerves that are more vulnerable or even that some accumulation of sensitivity from work reached a tipping point. People tell me they get tinnitus after a rock concert and it goes away. I wonder if you can take a vacation and see if yours goes away!! Look up Tinnitus Talk and also the Hyperacusis forum. They are helpful but avoid the negative posts! An ENT or audiologist who is expert in this area is a good resource as always since we are just fellow patients.
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1 ReactionBefore you had the MRI, did you wear plugs and ear muffs often? I have read this theory that people who use earplugs regularly have higher auditory gain (and higher hearing sensitivity).
But still, if you were wearing protection during the MRI, that means that the sounds that reached you were on par with your usual baseline sensitivity.
Years ago, I remember getting tinnitus from listening to loud music through earphones and attending concerts but it subsides after 1 or 2 days.
@coffeeandtv no I never wore earplugs. I cannot be absolutely certain that the MRI started it- could have been a medication but I don't remember. The worsening was definitely from a music event.
My son's girlfriend loves rock concerts and gets tinnitus afterwards but it goes away. She is quite casual about it despite my diplomatic efforts to caution her about what it is like to have it permanently- and loudly!
I just checked the noise level of a MRI machine and it apparently goes up to 130dB. That's really high! But I think if the doctor gave you approved hearing protection, it should reduce the exposure level to a safe limit.
I have checked the Tinnitus Talks forum. It seems like concerts are a major cause of people getting tinnitus. And a big majority of the users have anxiety issues too. Seems to be a lot of tie-in between anxiety disorders and tinnitus.
@coffeeandtv I think tinnitus causes anxiety. I am not in agreement that it happens the other way around. It may be that more anxious people have trouble accommodating tinnitus so they post more. But anxiety didn't cause it in the first place.