TIFU by running with bone conduction headphones, now I have tinnitus

Update: please see update at the bottom of this post. I’m fine.

Bought bone conduction headphones two weeks ago to wear while running. They sit on your cheekbones and conduct vibration through your bones instead of through your eardrums to reach your cochlea. So you’re hearing music “inside” your head but can still hear all of the ambient sounds of cars, etc.

Marketed as a safer solution for runners.

When I got them in the mail, I was surprised at how quiet my music was with these headphones. I had to turn them up almost ALL THE WAY to get even a half decent volume on my runs.

Turns out they were actually LOUD, I just couldn’t hear the music over the ambient sounds of the city. Today I tried plugging my ears and listening to them, and THE MUSIC IS SO LOUD inside my head. Unplug my ears and the perceived volume decreases.

So, the fuck up: I ran for an hour a day for two weeks with full volume music in my head. Without knowing.

A few days ago I started noticing sound sensitivity, headache, and ringing in my ears. Yesterday I went for another run with music, and developed a headache part way through. Today I woke up to a splitting headache and piercing high-pitched ringing. It’s lasted all day.

That’s when I realized what must have happened. That’s when I tested my theory with earplugs and the headphones.

I’ve had mild tinnitus for my entire life. I’m completely freaked that I may have permanently damaged my ears.

TLDR; accidentally listened to music at full volume for two weeks, possibly permanent consequences to my hearing

Don’t be like me, kids.

——****UPDATE:****——

Good LORD this took off. I’ve never in my life had a post get this much attention. Talk about a welcome to Reddit experience.

I want to emphasize that I am just one person and my experience may be coincidental. Maybe it’s allergies. Maybe it’s a migraine. Maybe the isolation of quarantine is finally getting to me. I have no way of actually scientifically determining that my hearing issue has intensified because of the use of these headphones. It just happened to occur within two weeks of me getting them and beginning daily use. I’m no doctor and I haven’t seen one.

I have had mild tinnitus for my entire life. I have no memory of true silence, except when I use that temporary “tap your head” trick. I just feel like the high pitched screaming is lot more noticeable right now, and it’s accompanied by a headache. This could be real, or it could be stress induced and psychological because I’m focusing on it and worried about it.

I realize I have thousands of people screaming at me to walk myself right into a specialist’s office RIGHT NOW, but it’s a lot harder when I have to consider my current financial situation. Do you understand how expensive specialists are in the US?

I will probably visit Urgent Care and speak with a doctor there, have them check me for sinus or impacted earwax, etc. If they rule out other causes, and advise I get further testing, I will have to decide what my next step is.

Thank you for every one of you for weighing in with concern, advice, and boner jokes. Really.

**If you are reading this thread and are suffering from a sudden increase of tinnitus, and have the means to see an audiologist or ENT, or even visit Urgent Care, it’s probably a good idea. Remember that people on the internet are not a substitute for trained medical professionals.**

——UPDATE #2——

The tinnitus continued to increase to the point I was having trouble hearing or sleeping, so I went to Urgent Care.

They looked in my ears and said, “Wow, yep, you have a lot of fluid built up in there. Probably allergies.” And gave me a steroid and a prescription for allergy medicine.

TL;DR I got a shot in my butt and my hearing should return to normal soon.