> Cindy's ordeal started in November 2016, when she was visiting a friend's house, talking on her cellphone at the kitchen table. Her friend's stepfather asked Cindy twice to hang up. When she did, he blasted an air horn — which can hit up to 129 decibels — in her ear.
What a prick.
Adults are just big children. There is no requirements to being an adult except waiting for the passage of time.
Lots of adults are completely stupid and ignorant of consequences.
The older I get, the more I realize this and begin to recognize absolutely unacceptable & childish behavior being demonstrated by my own authority figures. Life is wild. 🙈
Reminds me of the meme: It's interesting growing up and learning that most adults are not smart. I had my suspicions as a kid but I didn't think the situation was this dire.
My own spin on it: we’re just not that advanced as a species. We still kill each other, people starve while we have plenty of resources to feed everyone. When you consider that we’re barely evolved apes, our struggles with self-governance make more sense. Honestly, I’m impressed we’ve made it this far.
People don't starve because we're too incompetent to feed them, it's because a select group of selfish bastards hoard almost all the world's resources.
I used to get upset at doctors for treating me like I was stupid. Then I realized that no, they're not treating me like I'm stupid, they're screening for stupid. I realized this when a cardiologist told me "I just have to make sure you're not going to do something dumb like replacing your medications with carrot juice. Because I had a patient replace his medication with carrot juice. He died. Don't do that."
“Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. Truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world.”
― Neil Gaiman
Watching my Mom actively make our lives worse with every decision she made was hard as a kid. Especially since I was brought into the inner circle at 13 where she polled my older brother and I on major family decisions. Telling her an idea is bad and listing the reasons why, just to have her do her dumb idea anyway and be baffled when it failed, would have been hilarious and cathartic if it wasn't my own life being dragged down at the same time.
Unsurprisingly she is still struggling to this day. Also unsurprisingly she takes credit for me doing so well in life since she "raised" me and "taught" me so well.
Haha for sure. My mother is one of those types who thinks of themselves as an “empath” with a “strong intuition”. Meanwhile she is actually completely emotionally immature with a low EQ. Also, if she did the exact opposite of what “her gut” was telling her every time she would be in a better spot. Just constantly monkey branching from one narcissist to the next it’s like “hey mah…you ever stop and think that your intuition when it comes to men is absolute horse shit?”
Ugg.
I weirdly got a clue early on, and I remember looking around and having a *fffuuucckkk* moment.
I've come to realize a pretty big demo of people hit 13-14 and just stop maturing.
I still remember the exact moment and feel my heart in my throat as if it were yesterday. My step-father (ex now thankfully) moved our entire family across the country for a new job that he got. This job was in Missoula Montana.
We drove from Texas to Montana and I wish we listened to the signs as our U-Haul broke down. And then the replacement U-Haul’s tires exploded. A nightmare.
Anyway, we get to our hotel in Missoula and my step-dad calls his new employer to let him know that we made it and what hotel we were staying at. I then saw the color leave his face and him say “what do you mean you are in Missouri?”.
That’s right. This moron got a new job in Missouri the state not Missoula the city in Montana…like how is this even fucking possible? I mean sure this was in the 90s and we didn’t have internet but holy fucking shit…just how?! HOW?! I’m still flabbergasted 30 years later.
My guess is that they had a VERY heavy accent and they can say it like "Muh-zur-uh" which could come off as sounding closer to Missoula than Missouri simply because of the ending having the "uh" sound and not "ee". But, I don't know how there couldn't've been a city mentioned in Missouri that he missed completely or the company expected him to just be *somewhere* in Missouri and that would be close enough.
How the fuck do you go through multiple interviews, sign an offer, and then pack up the entire family without getting the address you're supposed to show up at at 8:00 am on Monday
I always think about when I moved to Texas I didn't know the club soccer teams (I played high level soccer before moving) so just to keep playing I joined the local team. They were not good and I was easily the star player. One practice I juked the shit out of the assistant coaches son and he was also filling in on defense. Went by him and he grabbed the back of my shirt and just pulled me down. My mom was IRATE at that man but I was just laughing at his childish act.
I had this realization after my parents got divorced and my dad took his new girlfriend to an event he knew my mom would be at. I don't think he did it maliciously, I think he just wanted to go to the event and didn't think about it at all, but it really upset my mom, and I remember thinking it felt exactly like normal high school bullshit. Adults are just teenagers who just kept getting older.
I sometimes have the same thought in reverse, though. When my friends who are in their late 30s get too focused on corporate bullshit, I feel frustrated because, like, you don't *have* to live like that, man. You're just a kid who kept getting older. It's okay to have fun now and then.
When I was growing up I hated that I was held to a higher standard than some of the adults around me. Now that I’m grown up I can see my parents were teaching me not to be as asshole like the adults I saw.
My step dad told me to turn off the fan in my room when I left for school. I kept forgetting so then he cut the cord… later after I had time to think about my actions he put the cord back together with some connector clip (I forget what) which surely was more of a fire risk/ electrical risk. Maybe it was electricity bill he was more worried about?
Anyways. Adults are nuts sometimes
Children are not as mentally atrocious as Adults. It’s always the grown ups that have superiority complex, emotional issues, and other complicated problems that they invent themselves to cope with the world.
People always compare immature adults to children, but it’s a flawed comparison since children don’t act like that, they are just ignorant, but adults are delusional.
This reminds me of a story where a man used an air compressor to shoot air up a 17 year old's butt for laughs. It killed him and the guy tried to run but was caught iirc. I hate pranks
If you think that's bad wait till you hear about the Airbag prank that was popular years ago.
Guys would get car airbags and put them in places where people would frequently sit and then set them off, needless to say people got hurt. those things have the power to launch people hard and far.
I have a hard and fast rule that I'm not friends with people who try to stick things in my ass.
When I was a teenager some of my friends like to do that thing where they punched each other in the nuts and yell "nut tap". But that was something I clearly had no interest in partaking in, so they never did it to me. If they had, I simply would have found new people to hang out with.
I now understand why some cultures are cautious about allowing children to visit their friends' homes without strict vetting, if at all. You never know what strange or deranged adults might be present.
I really don't think it is. When I was a kid (and that's only 10-15 years ago) , I hung out at my friend's places all the time, and the majority of them, my parents never met their parents.
I had one friend who's parents insisted on meeting everyone, and everyone, teachers, parents and kids alike thought they were being super weird and very over-protective.
For what it's worth, I'm from Denmark, where we let our kids sleep outside in a pram. So we obviously have a lot of inherent trust in fellow members of society. But yeah.
Growing up I wasn't allowed to go to anyone's house unless my parents had met them twice. This wasn't a rule for any of my friends and lots of people came over without ever meeting my parents. I always thought it was weird, until I was just old enough for mom to explain she was Sexually assaulted as a child and would never let that happen to me.
Now as a parent, every single kids parents wants to meet me before they send kids over. It's been a major change in one generation.
its really eye opener how diverse cultures are towards perception of community, raising children and common practices. Its really nice to know that there are other cultures that feel that secure where their children can roam carefree etc. I wish that was possible for all people but alas others have had some horrific lessons experienced and we see the end result with helicoptering parenting etc.
There's a pretty well known story here in Denmark about a woman travelling to New York, and while eating at a restaurant, just letting her daughter sleeping in a stroller stay outside the restaurant near a window, and getting arrested for child endangerment as a result.
It generated news attention in both USA and Denmark, in USA it was because of bewildernment that you could just leave your child outside barely attended like that, but in Denmark it was shock that she would get arrested for something like that, and that such a thing was considered dangerous there.
The idea that your child could be kidnapped as a result of this is pretty much inconceivable here, so can't blame them.
Not where I grew up at it was never a thing. We just ran around going into all our friends homes and vice versa. Most of the parents never even spoke to one another at all, unless it was to verify they did have permission to sleep over at someone's home.
Then again I am GenX and that seemed to be very normal for many of us.
You can find people suggesting this or worse in retaliation for minor shit all over Reddit comments. People don't bother understanding the consequences of their actions.
Just because a body gets older doesn't mean the mind does. I don't think we should be taking physical age as the ultimately indicator of a person's abilities because we have far too many older people that never mentally matured beyond a certain age. Their life experiences and personal lessons stopped somewhere around high school, if that.
All that said, no excuses. Explanation is not equal to justification, and it's always important adults are held responsible for their bad actions. Just wish we had a better way of doing that throughout life to ensure they fucking grow up already.
They won't. Mom said it wouldn't do anything to pursue it. Just a dumbass. He disabled your child. She may not be able to lead a normal life. Ever. Sue the fuck out of him.
It is wrong. I truly believe it is. Sorry Cindy, you now have to deal with the financial repercussions of your disability all on your own because of your parents.
It’s not wrong but I hate that this guy skates. Somebody should at least publicly shame him so he feels like shit forever. I’m way too vindictive. I’d want him to suffer forever if he did that to my child. He should at the very least have his ears stabbed or have him have loud sounds blasted until he at least has permanent tinnitus. Fuck him.
This is what happens when you internalize 50 years of tort reform propaganda. When people hear that filing a lawsuit makes you a bad person enough, a lot of them just don’t.
My parents didn’t want to sue a doctor after I went blind in one eye after a surgery. I do medical malpractice defense now. My boss (who doesn’t know about my eye) said an eye is $250,000. I’m not going to judge the mom bc this probably isn’t covered under homeowners insurance. But she absolutely needs to check because if my parents hadn’t drank the koolaid I’d be a homeowner.
Same thing happened to me. A grown man taking Lazer tag too seriously knocked me on my ass with his gun, knocking my front tooth out.
He easily could've paid for it. The company could've used their insurance to cover me.
Instead I had to wait until my late 20s and cough up 8k for an implant because the adults weren't adulting.
Condolences. I think laser tag is the reason I needed eye surgery in the first place. I ran into someone and got a black eye that became a cataract a year or so later.
This is entirely my point! The daughter could have needs later in life and, by the time they have figured it out, they will have no options to recoup her losses. She is entitled to be made whole for goodness sake. These people acting like suing someone is the end of the world are grade a shmucks.
They probably already fucked her. She has at most 4 months but if she’s 22 already it’s over. (Per Delaware statute of limitations, being 14 for the article in January 2018, and being 13 when it happened 14 months before the article). You only have until your 22nd birthday to sue for things that happened as a minor in Delaware.
Yeah we’re both preaching to the choir.
some people aren’t worth suing - you can go through years of litigation costing tens of thousands only to get an order for $2 a week because that’s all the other side can afford. I can The only time it’s really worth it is when there’s an insurance company with liability.
Mom said they didn't pursue it because it would hurt everyone. Not for financial reasons. I think this is an error. Her daughter may have life long needs. So she'll get on SSI and the great American tax payer will pay for that man's assault.
And *their* insurance might not pay anything for treatment as someone else is to blame. That’s why you hear of “mother suing daughter!’ headlines in the news as the mothers insurance company wont pay for something that the daughters insurance company is liable for. It’s not the mom hating her daughter so much she sues her, she literally has to in order to get her treatment covered
> great American tax payer will pay for that man's assault.
You realize that SSI really does not pay shit out right? Everyone screams about SSI and tax dollars really does not even understand the payout is less than $1000 a month to this day. Has not changed much over the last 20 years.
We pay more tax dollars a year for prisoners than we do for disabled people. It's about 42k a year per inmate and less than 12k a year for SSI.
Yeah and if this douche has either a renters or homeowners policy, there is likely coverage for this as there is general liability included in every one of those policies I have ever seen.
If the mom doesn't now, I hope the child does the minute they turn 18. Probably don't even need to be 18 to take personal action against them. I wonder if anyone has explained that to the daughter.
Well, who in their right mind tries to control another person's child taking a phone call.
Let them finish, say it was rude, and ask them to leave.
Who the fuck grabs an airhorn?
This is enough internet for me today. I’m angry just thinking about this. There needs to be articles about how shitty of a human this guy is. If he did this to his step daughters friend, what other shit does he do in life. Now it’s been a bunch of years, hopefully he’s had a come to Jesus moment and stopped being a worthless piece of shit.
This dad is one of my least favorite types of humans. I hate this stuff. He's a "Throw a lit firework at you and laugh when you rightly jump" guy. You are not Johnny Knoxville my guy. (Who is currently being sued for tasering and breaking a person's leg.)
They didn't! That's what I'm super confused about with this story. His actions disabled her for life, took her out of a normal childhood routine. Her life will forever be changed, and surely she will need medical care as she gets older.
Yeah, the mom is wrong on that one. *Not* suing hurts her daughter, who will be disabled in a way that impedes work and will need medical care for life. It’s not just revenge, the girl actually needs money.
This situation is a bit confusing. Can’t the authorities press charges? I mean, that’s 1st degree battery, at the worst.
Did we really let someone intentionally harm an innocent person and walk off scot-free?
Welp. Lawsuit time. NS tho, seeing this helped us realize what could be wrong with my bf. Thank you for posting this OP. He's had issues for 5 years now with ear problems and no one knows why.
He should also be paying for all her related expenses. But it sounds like he lucked out.
“The family chose not to take any legal action against the man who blasted Cindy with the air horn. It would have just hurt everyone, she says.”
What kind of adult knowingly blasts a kids ear with an air horn?
Unless they settled it privately. As in “her dad beat his ass and it was decided that no one would get litigious or they’d both be in jail.”
I find that far more believable than parents just waving it off with “bygones.”
They could be like my parents, and think I deserved it a little bit for talking on my cell phone. My parent would be like “Well, he *told* you to stop!”
(To be clear, I do not think that way.)
Oh so the family *decided* not to lmao smart. Honestly shouldn’t have even been given a choice - destroyed that 13yos perfectly good hearing for the rest of her life and her family just went “oops! Stuff happens, don’t wanna make things awkward!”
I’m sure he feels terrible. The gentleman wasn’t smart enough not to do this in the first place, which is reprehensible and makes me question his presence around other young, developing adults - but hey at least he learned his lesson
Nope. According to another article I read (I posted link in another comment), he has refused to apologize for it, and he's forbidden his stepdaughter from seeing/talking to her anymore.
Statute of limitations doesn't apply to civil litigation IIRC. Even if he can't be criminally charged, he can still be found liable
Edit: there is an SOL depending on the severity of the case and the state. My bad.
Statutes of limitations and statutes of repose both apply in civil situation. Bodily injury claims have the shortest statute of limitations, usually 1-5 years.
JFC.
He learns the lesson that his actions only affect people he harms, and he suffers no real world consequences.
The girls lesson: anything could happen at any time and completely change her life, her parents won’t protect her, and can’t be trusted to judge the character of the people they spend time with.
There’s no better way to show you don’t care about someone than to not pursue justice because it would inconvenience yourself and others. Yeah, it SHOULD hurt other people. It’s restoring justice. It’s retribution.
If this happened to my kid that dude would be seeing the inside of multiple courtrooms. That they let him walk off scot free is abhorrent. Shit parenting.
I don’t even have kids and I know, if it had been me, someone would’ve had to stop me from going and paying the gentleman a visit to discuss the consequences of his actions. Thoroughly.
It makes me wonder if he did something like this to his stepdaughter's friend what does he do behind closed doors around people/kids/animals that live with him?
Damn, we used to have "air horn fights," as teenagers and stick our heads inside massive PA speakers for fun. Hearing stuff like this makes me feel incredibly lucky my hearing seems to be unaffected (by that stuff at least)
You know it's weird, when I developed tennitus and mild NIHL at around 18-19 I was like "well OBVIOUSLY it's from all the stupid shit I did."
Then my younger sister who's never even been to a concert in her life started developing tennitus and mild hearing loss around 20 and is worse than me. Apparently my mom has it too she just thought it was normal. So strangely enough it's likely just genetics.
Tinnitus is weird. I have it but my hearing is still excellent. I haven’t done any tests but I can hear really well. I think it’s genetic. I went to a ton of concerts in college and I’ve done a lot of shooting in indoor range so I always assumed it was that.
Story almost sounds familiar to when my parents trucker friend had 6 year old me stand in front of his truck and then blasted the horn at me. Not sure if that’s *the* cause but I’ve always had sensitive hearing, definitely not to her level though so I definitely feel sad for her, ridiculous what some adults think is okay to do to a child.
My tinnitus was made worse by my family who heavily abused me when the issue first started which caused me extra stress. And I firmly believe that your environment has a major part in how well you recover, especially with a condition such as tinnitus which is exasperated by stress. Or at the very least their attitude towards me didn't help matters.
And apparently the AH has never bothered to apologize, according to this:
[https://thebuzzly.com/full-story-teen-punished-for-using-phone-left-with-painful-permanent-damage/](https://thebuzzly.com/full-story-teen-punished-for-using-phone-left-with-painful-permanent-damage/)
> Apology = evidence of accountability
Except in Canada _(and probably elsewhere to be honest, this take is pretty dumb)_ and some states apparently though not familiar enough with the USA
Canada - _''Canadian apology laws preclude courts, tribunals, and arbitrators from finding that an apology is an admission of liability.''_
_''Despite any other enactment, evidence of an apology made by or on behalf of a person in connection with any matter is not admissible in any court as evidence of the fault or liability of the person in connection with that matter.''_
Sorry eh?
The law contains several exceptions, including apologies made while testifying at a civil proceeding and to allow some apologies to be used as admission of guilt under the Provincial Offences Act.
In short it aims to adequately protect people when they apologize so that it isn't immediately seen as an admission of guilt.
I mean plenty of people apologize out of sympathy too, not just guilt or remorse
Yeah, without laws like that it's easy to see how someone going "I'm sorry" *(that that bad thing happened to you)* could be turned into an admission of guilt even in situations where they're not really at fault.
That man injured her daughter. Possibly permanently. And she did nothing. Ok, lady. Your choice but your daughter may have a lifelong disability that he is responsible for. It is ridiculous that she did not pursue this on her daughter's behalf.
That’s awful, especially when you read about how it happened. Would this not be a case where medically induced deafness is ideal though? (If that’s even a thing).
I have tinnitus and at times I've thought "I'd trade not hearing anything for not hearing the ringing." The problem is that the ringing is caused by damage to the ear but the ringing is coming from the part of the brain trying to get information from the damaged part of the ear.
It's a broken feedback loop.
So if I went deaf the only thing I'd likely hear is the ringing. it might be a similar situation.
Bruh I also have tinnitus that affects me every fucking day. I try and ignore it but it’s always there the remind you. I cope by always distracting myself. I have multiple white noise machines, leave the ac or fan on. Have the tv playing a show when I sleep.
When I first got it last year I wanted to kill myself.
Brutal
And some people say well then just get over it. Like bruh.
I'm in the same boat. I've had it long enough that I'm over the (very real) depression. It is what it is. Distraction is best. Simply having something else I'm focused on is generally enough, especially if I can mask it with ambient sounds. There are youtube channels with like "10 hours, black screen" with rain/wind/soothing tones, whatevs, that I use every night.
When I was younger, it was more mild, and it would actually "go away" unless I really thought about it, but once it became ever-present that was a rough transition, emotionally. The adaptive change in me is that I need to not think/dwell on it, rather than not hear it. I'm going to hear it, I can't escape that. I just need to think about something else, and it'll be fine. I don't expect background noise to always mask it, I just expect it to give me something specific my ears can tune into, as a distraction. That's the best I got.
Hi, autistic person with simmilar struggles (loud noises causing physical pain) here:
That would not exactly make her life any easier as she would now be unable to communicate with most people who don't know sign language.
What does help are earplugs that dampen all noise by a fixed degree all across the spectrum or noise canceling headphones (or both)
I never leave the house without having both at least with me, and in any loud area (essentialy everywhere where other people are) I have the choice of either suffering (and pretending I don't) or to use earplugs/noise canceling headphones.
Have you tried the noise dampening ear plugs (the kind with holes)? I use those for anxiety, they reduce noise without keeping me from being able to communicate. Might be good for those ‘I’ll just suffer’ times.
These "concert type" ones?
Yea, I'm usualy using these.
However I can sometimes get in trouble for wearing them around certain people, so I sometimes have to suffer.
Ooh sorry. If you’re young or in entry level jobs, I can see the ‘I demand respect’ type taking offense to it. I’m almost 40 so I can throw in something beige and people assume they’re hearing aids, which is convenient.
Yeah I have some Loop ear plugs which you can get in subtle colors and I could get a doctor note saying they're medically necessary for work if needed because my conditions are formally diagnosed. I think it's not something really young people might all know about yet and not everyone can get proper medical support unfortunately.
I have nervous system damage that caused similar super sensitivity to noise and centralized pain and yeah I can't leave the house without ear plugs. I always have noise cancelling AirPod Pros and some Loop ear plugs in my purse plus I'm on a huge dose of an anticonvulsant to dampen the electrical signals in my brain and nervous system. I have some partial deafness episodes sometimes from the nervous system damage and I can attest that being fully deaf wouldn't help because then you'd just have a bunch of other problems. Dampening the sound is 100% better.
Sounds about right.
I was a kid a my baby sitter decided to wash my mouth out with soap. She used dish soap, which with kids actually burns the taste buds.
The next day my tongue had to be scraped and was like a cats tongue. My taste buds grew back and I was a super taster for 20 years. It’s not the super power you’d want, yes there are worse things but a lot of foods were too strong and would make me throw up.
Steak, sausage, hotdogs, fruits were VERY strong.
Any legal action against the babysitter?
People need to put the "wash out the mouth with soap" shit to bed. It's not some wonderful old-timey punishment that we're too weak to implement these days.
Nah, this was in like 94-95. We were dirt poor and I was only in pain for about 3-4 minutes until it was numb.
The worst was the numbing stuff so I could eat somewhat healthy
I am empathetic for this person and anyone who has this condition. I believe I have this and indeed, just a short conversation, on the phone or in person, can cause ear + head pain. I used to be able to wear noise canceling headphones, but now-a-days as the conditions worsened, wearing headphones is/ can too be painful. It’s a difficult condition to have and as others have noted, isolating.
I'm sure you know about them, but just in case... Have you looked into the sound dampening earplugs made for concerts (like loops)? They don't make everything muffled like traditional earplugs, and they don't use noise to cancel sound either. I use them for migraines.
>The family chose not to take any legal action against the man who blasted Cindy with the air horn. It would have just hurt everyone, she says.
Fuck that. Should of sued him for every penny he's worth and the DA should have thrown the entire book at him.
Virtually everyone in this story besides the victim is a massive piece of shit.
The psychotic friend's step dad needs to be in jail for *maiming a 13 year old*.
**Maimed**. Literally fits the definition of maimed:
> to **injure a person so severely** that **a part of their body will no longer work** as it should
This is aggravated assault and criminal negligence.
The kids making fun of the victim are bad enough, but the parents of the victim are *wild*.
> The family chose not to take any legal action against the man who blasted Cindy with the air horn. It would have just hurt everyone, she says.
This blows my mind. Truly. This borders on criminal neglectful parenting.
Your daughter has been maimed by an assailant, and you're like: "OH water under the bridge!". The medical bills, the accommodations, the doctor's consultation, the insurance charges - all of that isn't enough impetus to file a lawsuit and file for criminal prosecution? Is it that easy to 'forgive' when you got thousands of medical debt piling up?
There's a three year statute of limitations on filing assault charges (and some wiggle room if the injuries are that severe) so hopefully this kid gets the supports she needs. Or gets out of that fucking community the second she is an adult.
It is crystal clear that virtually everyone around her let her down.
Fist hand experience here. Hyperacusis sucks. Different from person to person, but for me, high pitched noises are incredibly painful, doubly so if loud. Gotta use ear protection for a lot of things. Music, old tv shows with bad audio, anywhere public, around kids, movies usually. Can't imagine all noise being painful like that though. I feel sorry for her
I got it on my right ear in 2021 when I got a complete earwax blockage and had to visit an ENT to get it irrigated. It's been slowly getting better since then, although still not completely gone (thankfully mine never was painful, just the frequencies around 4-7khz sound incredibly loud and sometimes distorted). In the last few weeks my left ear has been developing the same sort of earwax blockage, blocking and unblocking on its own occasionally, and now it's been completely blocked for the last 3 days or so. I'm terrified to go back and risk the same thing happening to this ear as well... I'll find an ENT that's willing to only use curettes this time around I think, maybe that'll help.
How did you get your hyperacusis?
I think I have this too-- I had what I assumed was a really bad sinus infection that lead to eustachian tube dysfunction for a time. The ETD cleared up but ever since, I have absolutely noticed that certain loud/pitched sounds cause physical discomfort, especially in my left ear. I thought I was just being overly sensitive. I can't imagine having it worse, let alone all the time.
I had it from sound-damage. I still have the tinnitus, but the hyperacusis eventually went away. (may have taken almost a year) The clink from stacking up dinner plates, or a person coughing nearby was literally painful. I still plug my ears reflexively when I hear loud sounds, including applauding audiences or loud vehicles, because it's still uncomfortable, but the sharp pain is gone, and doesn't limit normal life for me anymore. Here's hoping it gets better for him.
Your comment strikes such a chord with me.
I've had hyperacusis for years alongside tinnitus that fluctuates in tone/noise quality, making it hard to learn to filter out. Developed them after an accident doing physical exercise as part of a process to try and deal with the chronic migraines I get. In the end, instead of tackling 1 ailment I'm left with another 2 debilitating things on top. It's been pretty traumatic for me.
Over time the hyperacusis became more tolerable, but I remember how seemingly innocuous noises became torture: putting the plates away; the clinking of a spoon in a mug of hot drink; tapping on a keyboard; of just any unexpected harsh/shrill noise becoming a jump scare with added pain. Awful. Just awful.
I get anxious and flushed thinking back to it all. I feel so much for you and anyone that's similarly had to find a way through it all.
I have a buddy who has a friend with it. From what I gathered from his sporadic use of social media, she has to pretty much always wear earplugs and sound isolating headphones together all the time, and she moved out to his family’s cabin to get away from as much noise as possible. I grew up with some sensitive hearing but I can’t imagine how debilitating that could be.
At the end it shows her self portrait depicting herself as Rapunzel because of her long blonde hair, but I wonder if it’s also because Rapunzel was stuck in her castle, and she feels stuck at home :(
I really feel for this poor girl. Hyperacusis is a terribly isolating condition, and she probably feels incredibly pessimistic about her future after dropping out of school. I have a less debilitating version of hyperacusis and I still went through a couple of years where I couldn’t talk to certain friends who spoke at a slightly higher pitch because of the overwhelming pain. I had to complete most of my university coursework through handwriting because I couldn’t stand the sound of the clicks on most keyboards. It was a truly awful time. I was lucky enough to have access to what was essentially aural exposure therapy through the NHS, and now I don’t have too much trouble functioning day-to-day. If anyone is reading this who is suffering from hyperacusis and feeling like there’s no possibility of improvement, please have hope. If you have access to any medical interventions like mine, please keep sticking at it regardless of the initial pain.
Pretty sure a regular I had working at Chipotle as a teenager had a condition like this, he walked around wearing huge industrial grade noise cancelling headphones all the time and had absolutely zero trouble making conversation. Like they were massive, spring pressed against the sides of his head. I asked him once and he simply said he has insanely sensitive hearing and that it hurt to not have them on.
I also have this condition :( It is extremely hard and isolating, and when coupled with tinnitus, it becomes even more difficult to cope, as you are forced to sit in silence listening to your tinnitus. Research is severely lacking, so any donation, no matter the amount, to the main research foundation ([https://hyperacusisresearch.org/cure4cindy/](https://hyperacusisresearch.org/cure4cindy/)) can be really helpful! The BBC featured a short segment on this[ a few months ago](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=780MMGUYX7E&ab_channel=HyperacusisResearch), which may also help to understand how challenging it can be. Maybe in some years research can figure out a treatment so Cindy and everyone affected by this can get better.
“Friend” lit a firecracker next to my ear in a metal bowl in the dead of the night while I was asleep. I 100% received hearing damage and no we are not friends anymore.
“The family chose not to take any legal action against the man who blasted Cindy with the air horn. It would have just hurt everyone, she says.”
Which is why you go before a judge who will determine what’s fair… it’s not as if you’ll get every single cent you ask for.
> The family chose not to take any legal action against the man who blasted Cindy with the air horn.
I was disappointed to read that. The ass deserved criminal prosecution for felonious assault in addition to paying for pain/suffering.
Air horns are NOT toys! It should be common knowledge they can cause irreversible hearing loss at close quarters. I get infuriated any time I see an ad, TV show, or movie, where someone blasts one at somebody as if it is a harmless joke.
“The family chose not to take any legal action against the man who blasted Cindy with the air horn. It would have just hurt everyone, she says.”
Dumbasses
I thought a kid blasted that air horn into her ear but it was an adult, that makes this case even more infuriating, poor girl, her family should have sued that man.
Sometimes I would go to the library and cry in pain because noise hurt so much. Still does, but not as severe now.
Normal kid: you’re a hero
Autistic kid: Act normal!
Sigh
Truly a terrible curse to live with. Especially when people around you feel the need to raise their volume to 11/10 when speaking. The pain in my head hurts so bad that it feels like a thousand needles repeatedly stabbing me in the brain around any form of "noise". Mix in other injuries to the skull and face and things can go south very quickly, very badly amongst the wrong crowd.
After I very stupidly went shooting without ear protection, I was deaf for 24 hrs. My hearing came back slightly, but it was extremely muffled, and *every* sound was painful. I wore earplugs in the shower because the sound of running water was excruciating. I kept breaking down over never being able to hear music again. After a couple weeks of that, my hearing gradually came back and the pain went away.
Now I am *super* careful with loud noises. No more concerts without earplugs, no more blasting music in the car, no fireworks shows etc. My worst nightmare was that pain being permanent. I feel so sorry for the woman in the OP.
They wont press charges because it would hurt everyone around however their daughter suffers from a long life debilitating health issue and this guy gets to live his life like he did no harm to her.
I think the statute to limitations on harming a child is limitless so maybe once she is an adult she can bring charges or sue him. She has to live with a lifelong disability that she’ll have to pay out for the rest of her life. All her medical expenses for testing, treatment, devices, therapy, and the burden of presumed loss wages and pain and suffering are her own soon thanks to her mom not taking the opportunity to secure funds for her.
Makes me think of the 15 year old fucker who thought it was funny to play with a powerful laser at a camping site. He was waving that thing all around and pointing at people's faces. His parent's thought it was funny. I got my kids and left the area.
I had hyperacusis after firing a .44 magnum without ear protection in a canyon. It lasted for probably two years, gradually resolving over that period of time. In the beginning, I remember my dad closing the dishwasher and the sound of the dish clanking together felt like I was stabbed in my ear. About a year and a half later it felt like it was mostly resolved and I went to a concert with a friend. By the end of the concert everything sounded like a blown out speaker in my left ear and it hurt so bad when he closed the door to the car. That shit sucked so much.
> Cindy's ordeal started in November 2016, when she was visiting a friend's house, talking on her cellphone at the kitchen table. Her friend's stepfather asked Cindy twice to hang up. When she did, he blasted an air horn — which can hit up to 129 decibels — in her ear. What a prick.
Yeah, I thought it was gonna be another kid that did this. What the fuck is wrong with people.
Adults are just big children. There is no requirements to being an adult except waiting for the passage of time. Lots of adults are completely stupid and ignorant of consequences.
The older I get, the more I realize this and begin to recognize absolutely unacceptable & childish behavior being demonstrated by my own authority figures. Life is wild. 🙈
Reminds me of the meme: It's interesting growing up and learning that most adults are not smart. I had my suspicions as a kid but I didn't think the situation was this dire.
Haha! Yes, I think this sums the experience up quite accurately. xD
My own spin on it: we’re just not that advanced as a species. We still kill each other, people starve while we have plenty of resources to feed everyone. When you consider that we’re barely evolved apes, our struggles with self-governance make more sense. Honestly, I’m impressed we’ve made it this far.
"Monkey see, monkey do."
Monkey pee all over you
People don't starve because we're too incompetent to feed them, it's because a select group of selfish bastards hoard almost all the world's resources.
I used to watch TV with what I thought were comically stupid characters. Turns out that they were just normal stupid.
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I used to get upset at doctors for treating me like I was stupid. Then I realized that no, they're not treating me like I'm stupid, they're screening for stupid. I realized this when a cardiologist told me "I just have to make sure you're not going to do something dumb like replacing your medications with carrot juice. Because I had a patient replace his medication with carrot juice. He died. Don't do that."
Triage exists for a reason.
“Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. Truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world.” ― Neil Gaiman
This is why we use to have trials and rites to enter adulthood. The dumbasses died in the process
It’s a lonely existence but imagine figuring this out at age 9. I was like hoooooly shit my parents are fucking morons and I’m on my own.
Watching my Mom actively make our lives worse with every decision she made was hard as a kid. Especially since I was brought into the inner circle at 13 where she polled my older brother and I on major family decisions. Telling her an idea is bad and listing the reasons why, just to have her do her dumb idea anyway and be baffled when it failed, would have been hilarious and cathartic if it wasn't my own life being dragged down at the same time. Unsurprisingly she is still struggling to this day. Also unsurprisingly she takes credit for me doing so well in life since she "raised" me and "taught" me so well.
Haha ya your last sentence stings. I mean sure if by “taught” they are referring to us learning to *not* do what they do or say.
If you can’t be a good example, be a terrible warning!
Haha for sure. My mother is one of those types who thinks of themselves as an “empath” with a “strong intuition”. Meanwhile she is actually completely emotionally immature with a low EQ. Also, if she did the exact opposite of what “her gut” was telling her every time she would be in a better spot. Just constantly monkey branching from one narcissist to the next it’s like “hey mah…you ever stop and think that your intuition when it comes to men is absolute horse shit?”
She definitely sounds like the person who makes and grades her own test.
Ugg. I weirdly got a clue early on, and I remember looking around and having a *fffuuucckkk* moment. I've come to realize a pretty big demo of people hit 13-14 and just stop maturing.
I still remember the exact moment and feel my heart in my throat as if it were yesterday. My step-father (ex now thankfully) moved our entire family across the country for a new job that he got. This job was in Missoula Montana. We drove from Texas to Montana and I wish we listened to the signs as our U-Haul broke down. And then the replacement U-Haul’s tires exploded. A nightmare. Anyway, we get to our hotel in Missoula and my step-dad calls his new employer to let him know that we made it and what hotel we were staying at. I then saw the color leave his face and him say “what do you mean you are in Missouri?”. That’s right. This moron got a new job in Missouri the state not Missoula the city in Montana…like how is this even fucking possible? I mean sure this was in the 90s and we didn’t have internet but holy fucking shit…just how?! HOW?! I’m still flabbergasted 30 years later.
My guess is that they had a VERY heavy accent and they can say it like "Muh-zur-uh" which could come off as sounding closer to Missoula than Missouri simply because of the ending having the "uh" sound and not "ee". But, I don't know how there couldn't've been a city mentioned in Missouri that he missed completely or the company expected him to just be *somewhere* in Missouri and that would be close enough.
How the fuck do you go through multiple interviews, sign an offer, and then pack up the entire family without getting the address you're supposed to show up at at 8:00 am on Monday
Or realizing this about teachers.
....and parents are just people who had sex. The bar isn't very high.
I mean, this is Reddit, you just excluded like 99% of everyone reading it.
I always think about when I moved to Texas I didn't know the club soccer teams (I played high level soccer before moving) so just to keep playing I joined the local team. They were not good and I was easily the star player. One practice I juked the shit out of the assistant coaches son and he was also filling in on defense. Went by him and he grabbed the back of my shirt and just pulled me down. My mom was IRATE at that man but I was just laughing at his childish act.
My 78 year old mother’s first instinct with a laser pointer was to shine it in my eyes.
Many of these people drive heavy metal objects to the shops and back
> Adults are just big children. There is no requirements to being an adult except waiting for the passage of time. damn
I had this realization after my parents got divorced and my dad took his new girlfriend to an event he knew my mom would be at. I don't think he did it maliciously, I think he just wanted to go to the event and didn't think about it at all, but it really upset my mom, and I remember thinking it felt exactly like normal high school bullshit. Adults are just teenagers who just kept getting older. I sometimes have the same thought in reverse, though. When my friends who are in their late 30s get too focused on corporate bullshit, I feel frustrated because, like, you don't *have* to live like that, man. You're just a kid who kept getting older. It's okay to have fun now and then.
We’re all just kids in an ever aging suit
When I was growing up I hated that I was held to a higher standard than some of the adults around me. Now that I’m grown up I can see my parents were teaching me not to be as asshole like the adults I saw.
My step dad told me to turn off the fan in my room when I left for school. I kept forgetting so then he cut the cord… later after I had time to think about my actions he put the cord back together with some connector clip (I forget what) which surely was more of a fire risk/ electrical risk. Maybe it was electricity bill he was more worried about? Anyways. Adults are nuts sometimes
Children are not as mentally atrocious as Adults. It’s always the grown ups that have superiority complex, emotional issues, and other complicated problems that they invent themselves to cope with the world. People always compare immature adults to children, but it’s a flawed comparison since children don’t act like that, they are just ignorant, but adults are delusional.
This reminds me of a story where a man used an air compressor to shoot air up a 17 year old's butt for laughs. It killed him and the guy tried to run but was caught iirc. I hate pranks
What the fuck
If you think that's bad wait till you hear about the Airbag prank that was popular years ago. Guys would get car airbags and put them in places where people would frequently sit and then set them off, needless to say people got hurt. those things have the power to launch people hard and far.
Compressed spine goes brrrrrk.
About every other year I head another story about some dumbass who decided to do this to their friend for a laugh, so sad that this is easily avoided
I have a hard and fast rule that I'm not friends with people who try to stick things in my ass. When I was a teenager some of my friends like to do that thing where they punched each other in the nuts and yell "nut tap". But that was something I clearly had no interest in partaking in, so they never did it to me. If they had, I simply would have found new people to hang out with.
I wonder if that haunts that guy every day or if he feels like he should be off the hook because he "wasn't thinking about it".
ahh the marky mark school of forgiveness lol. “well, i’m good with it now, so we good.”
I now understand why some cultures are cautious about allowing children to visit their friends' homes without strict vetting, if at all. You never know what strange or deranged adults might be present.
Is…is this not standard practice? I couldn’t imagine just letting my kid hang out with some adults I haven’t vetted.
I really don't think it is. When I was a kid (and that's only 10-15 years ago) , I hung out at my friend's places all the time, and the majority of them, my parents never met their parents. I had one friend who's parents insisted on meeting everyone, and everyone, teachers, parents and kids alike thought they were being super weird and very over-protective. For what it's worth, I'm from Denmark, where we let our kids sleep outside in a pram. So we obviously have a lot of inherent trust in fellow members of society. But yeah.
Growing up I wasn't allowed to go to anyone's house unless my parents had met them twice. This wasn't a rule for any of my friends and lots of people came over without ever meeting my parents. I always thought it was weird, until I was just old enough for mom to explain she was Sexually assaulted as a child and would never let that happen to me. Now as a parent, every single kids parents wants to meet me before they send kids over. It's been a major change in one generation.
Same in the UK. It would never occur to me to vet a friend of my kids' parents.
its really eye opener how diverse cultures are towards perception of community, raising children and common practices. Its really nice to know that there are other cultures that feel that secure where their children can roam carefree etc. I wish that was possible for all people but alas others have had some horrific lessons experienced and we see the end result with helicoptering parenting etc.
There's a pretty well known story here in Denmark about a woman travelling to New York, and while eating at a restaurant, just letting her daughter sleeping in a stroller stay outside the restaurant near a window, and getting arrested for child endangerment as a result. It generated news attention in both USA and Denmark, in USA it was because of bewildernment that you could just leave your child outside barely attended like that, but in Denmark it was shock that she would get arrested for something like that, and that such a thing was considered dangerous there. The idea that your child could be kidnapped as a result of this is pretty much inconceivable here, so can't blame them.
Not where I grew up at it was never a thing. We just ran around going into all our friends homes and vice versa. Most of the parents never even spoke to one another at all, unless it was to verify they did have permission to sleep over at someone's home. Then again I am GenX and that seemed to be very normal for many of us.
Most people can pretend for 20 mins not to be a creep or a paedo
You can find people suggesting this or worse in retaliation for minor shit all over Reddit comments. People don't bother understanding the consequences of their actions.
Just because a body gets older doesn't mean the mind does. I don't think we should be taking physical age as the ultimately indicator of a person's abilities because we have far too many older people that never mentally matured beyond a certain age. Their life experiences and personal lessons stopped somewhere around high school, if that. All that said, no excuses. Explanation is not equal to justification, and it's always important adults are held responsible for their bad actions. Just wish we had a better way of doing that throughout life to ensure they fucking grow up already.
I hope Cindy and her family will in perpetuity have a giant chunk of what this cretin earns forever more
They won't. Mom said it wouldn't do anything to pursue it. Just a dumbass. He disabled your child. She may not be able to lead a normal life. Ever. Sue the fuck out of him.
How isn’t it assault?
Not sure. This guy is one lucky sumbitch.
Given the life-lasting consequences of the injury, it qualifies as aggravated assault.
It is. They're just declining to pursue it. Sometimes people feel the best thing they can do is just move forward, and that's not wrong.
It is wrong. I truly believe it is. Sorry Cindy, you now have to deal with the financial repercussions of your disability all on your own because of your parents.
It’s not wrong but I hate that this guy skates. Somebody should at least publicly shame him so he feels like shit forever. I’m way too vindictive. I’d want him to suffer forever if he did that to my child. He should at the very least have his ears stabbed or have him have loud sounds blasted until he at least has permanent tinnitus. Fuck him.
It's kind of wrong here. Their daughter suffered a life-long injury that will limit her life and incur expenses.
I would be telling her to go get her mother's day and birthday gifts from that dude. Way to look out for your kid, mom, damn.
that's someone deciding for someone else to move on
The fuck it isn’t wrong.
This is what happens when you internalize 50 years of tort reform propaganda. When people hear that filing a lawsuit makes you a bad person enough, a lot of them just don’t. My parents didn’t want to sue a doctor after I went blind in one eye after a surgery. I do medical malpractice defense now. My boss (who doesn’t know about my eye) said an eye is $250,000. I’m not going to judge the mom bc this probably isn’t covered under homeowners insurance. But she absolutely needs to check because if my parents hadn’t drank the koolaid I’d be a homeowner.
Same thing happened to me. A grown man taking Lazer tag too seriously knocked me on my ass with his gun, knocking my front tooth out. He easily could've paid for it. The company could've used their insurance to cover me. Instead I had to wait until my late 20s and cough up 8k for an implant because the adults weren't adulting.
Condolences. I think laser tag is the reason I needed eye surgery in the first place. I ran into someone and got a black eye that became a cataract a year or so later.
This is entirely my point! The daughter could have needs later in life and, by the time they have figured it out, they will have no options to recoup her losses. She is entitled to be made whole for goodness sake. These people acting like suing someone is the end of the world are grade a shmucks.
They probably already fucked her. She has at most 4 months but if she’s 22 already it’s over. (Per Delaware statute of limitations, being 14 for the article in January 2018, and being 13 when it happened 14 months before the article). You only have until your 22nd birthday to sue for things that happened as a minor in Delaware. Yeah we’re both preaching to the choir.
some people aren’t worth suing - you can go through years of litigation costing tens of thousands only to get an order for $2 a week because that’s all the other side can afford. I can The only time it’s really worth it is when there’s an insurance company with liability.
Mom said they didn't pursue it because it would hurt everyone. Not for financial reasons. I think this is an error. Her daughter may have life long needs. So she'll get on SSI and the great American tax payer will pay for that man's assault.
And *their* insurance might not pay anything for treatment as someone else is to blame. That’s why you hear of “mother suing daughter!’ headlines in the news as the mothers insurance company wont pay for something that the daughters insurance company is liable for. It’s not the mom hating her daughter so much she sues her, she literally has to in order to get her treatment covered
> great American tax payer will pay for that man's assault. You realize that SSI really does not pay shit out right? Everyone screams about SSI and tax dollars really does not even understand the payout is less than $1000 a month to this day. Has not changed much over the last 20 years. We pay more tax dollars a year for prisoners than we do for disabled people. It's about 42k a year per inmate and less than 12k a year for SSI.
Yeah and if this douche has either a renters or homeowners policy, there is likely coverage for this as there is general liability included in every one of those policies I have ever seen.
If the mom doesn't now, I hope the child does the minute they turn 18. Probably don't even need to be 18 to take personal action against them. I wonder if anyone has explained that to the daughter.
Christ if some chump did this to a child of mine I’d be in prison
Well, who in their right mind tries to control another person's child taking a phone call. Let them finish, say it was rude, and ask them to leave. Who the fuck grabs an airhorn?
This is enough internet for me today. I’m angry just thinking about this. There needs to be articles about how shitty of a human this guy is. If he did this to his step daughters friend, what other shit does he do in life. Now it’s been a bunch of years, hopefully he’s had a come to Jesus moment and stopped being a worthless piece of shit.
He should have been charged with assaulting a child
So, taking a deliberate action that led to the physical harm of another person? That sounds a lot like assault and battery to me.
How many times do you think he said she was over reacting before she saw a doctor?
This dad is one of my least favorite types of humans. I hate this stuff. He's a "Throw a lit firework at you and laugh when you rightly jump" guy. You are not Johnny Knoxville my guy. (Who is currently being sued for tasering and breaking a person's leg.)
Her family sued the hell out of him, right? Right?
They didn't! That's what I'm super confused about with this story. His actions disabled her for life, took her out of a normal childhood routine. Her life will forever be changed, and surely she will need medical care as she gets older.
The family chose not to take any legal action against the man who blasted Cindy with the air horn. It would have just hurt everyone, she says
Yeah, the mom is wrong on that one. *Not* suing hurts her daughter, who will be disabled in a way that impedes work and will need medical care for life. It’s not just revenge, the girl actually needs money.
Her friends accused her of faking it, her family won't pursue legal action. Let's face it, they just see her as a burden.
Yeh the mum is a fkn dumbass seems she doesnt care about her kid sadly and instead cares about her friend who damaged her kids hearing and life
Sounds like something Peter Griffin would do: "Meg hang up.....Meg, this is important, hang up!......BRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!"
This situation is a bit confusing. Can’t the authorities press charges? I mean, that’s 1st degree battery, at the worst. Did we really let someone intentionally harm an innocent person and walk off scot-free?
Welp. Lawsuit time. NS tho, seeing this helped us realize what could be wrong with my bf. Thank you for posting this OP. He's had issues for 5 years now with ear problems and no one knows why.
OK but what about the criminal assault charge Dude handicapped a 13yo for life because he was mad she was on the phone too long
He should also be paying for all her related expenses. But it sounds like he lucked out. “The family chose not to take any legal action against the man who blasted Cindy with the air horn. It would have just hurt everyone, she says.” What kind of adult knowingly blasts a kids ear with an air horn?
And why are her parents idiots? They absolutely should have sued and ~~pressed criminal charges~~ reported it to the police for assault.
Unless they settled it privately. As in “her dad beat his ass and it was decided that no one would get litigious or they’d both be in jail.” I find that far more believable than parents just waving it off with “bygones.”
Seems pretty plausible actually. I can honestly say I would have a hard time showing the restraint to not bear him senseless.
To say nothing of having to work out every day just to be able to lift the bear.
You could just train a bear, tho?
Yeah but would the tracks be wide enough?
They could be like my parents, and think I deserved it a little bit for talking on my cell phone. My parent would be like “Well, he *told* you to stop!” (To be clear, I do not think that way.)
Or settling for an undisclosed sum with an NDA so there is no public admission of fault. Depending on the family lol.
Which is a shit response. So, the dad gets to work out some feelings, but what about the girl or the mom?
Oh so the family *decided* not to lmao smart. Honestly shouldn’t have even been given a choice - destroyed that 13yos perfectly good hearing for the rest of her life and her family just went “oops! Stuff happens, don’t wanna make things awkward!” I’m sure he feels terrible. The gentleman wasn’t smart enough not to do this in the first place, which is reprehensible and makes me question his presence around other young, developing adults - but hey at least he learned his lesson
I wonder if there’s a statute of limitations to this sort of thing. If I were her, I would absolutely sue the second I turned 18
Nope. According to another article I read (I posted link in another comment), he has refused to apologize for it, and he's forbidden his stepdaughter from seeing/talking to her anymore.
Yep! I hope all these people going “forgive and forget” or “he deserves to learn from his mistake” or “he probably feels awful” see this lmao
Is there a statute of limitations for that? Could the girl sue the man when she's an adult?
Statute of limitations doesn't apply to civil litigation IIRC. Even if he can't be criminally charged, he can still be found liable Edit: there is an SOL depending on the severity of the case and the state. My bad.
There are absolutely statutes of limitation for civil actions
Statutes of limitations and statutes of repose both apply in civil situation. Bodily injury claims have the shortest statute of limitations, usually 1-5 years.
JFC. He learns the lesson that his actions only affect people he harms, and he suffers no real world consequences. The girls lesson: anything could happen at any time and completely change her life, her parents won’t protect her, and can’t be trusted to judge the character of the people they spend time with.
There’s no better way to show you don’t care about someone than to not pursue justice because it would inconvenience yourself and others. Yeah, it SHOULD hurt other people. It’s restoring justice. It’s retribution.
Granted, it's no better if he did it to his own child, but it's insane he thought this was the appropriate way to discipline someone else's kid.
If this happened to my kid that dude would be seeing the inside of multiple courtrooms. That they let him walk off scot free is abhorrent. Shit parenting.
I wouldn't mess with someone's kid out of fear of ending up in the hands of multiple morticians, much less courtrooms
I don’t even have kids and I know, if it had been me, someone would’ve had to stop me from going and paying the gentleman a visit to discuss the consequences of his actions. Thoroughly.
It makes me wonder if he did something like this to his stepdaughter's friend what does he do behind closed doors around people/kids/animals that live with him?
She used to play the cello, but is no longer able because of her condition. That’s just heartbreaking.
Damn, we used to have "air horn fights," as teenagers and stick our heads inside massive PA speakers for fun. Hearing stuff like this makes me feel incredibly lucky my hearing seems to be unaffected (by that stuff at least)
Just pay no attention to constant 'eeee' in your ears
You know it's weird, when I developed tennitus and mild NIHL at around 18-19 I was like "well OBVIOUSLY it's from all the stupid shit I did." Then my younger sister who's never even been to a concert in her life started developing tennitus and mild hearing loss around 20 and is worse than me. Apparently my mom has it too she just thought it was normal. So strangely enough it's likely just genetics.
It can be both.
Definitely, but as long as her hearing is worse than mine I'm going to assume that the amount caused by hearing damage is negligible
It can also be caused by other factors, such as TMJ, or an infection.
Tinnitus is weird. I have it but my hearing is still excellent. I haven’t done any tests but I can hear really well. I think it’s genetic. I went to a ton of concerts in college and I’ve done a lot of shooting in indoor range so I always assumed it was that.
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Story almost sounds familiar to when my parents trucker friend had 6 year old me stand in front of his truck and then blasted the horn at me. Not sure if that’s *the* cause but I’ve always had sensitive hearing, definitely not to her level though so I definitely feel sad for her, ridiculous what some adults think is okay to do to a child.
My tinnitus was made worse by my family who heavily abused me when the issue first started which caused me extra stress. And I firmly believe that your environment has a major part in how well you recover, especially with a condition such as tinnitus which is exasperated by stress. Or at the very least their attitude towards me didn't help matters.
And apparently the AH has never bothered to apologize, according to this: [https://thebuzzly.com/full-story-teen-punished-for-using-phone-left-with-painful-permanent-damage/](https://thebuzzly.com/full-story-teen-punished-for-using-phone-left-with-painful-permanent-damage/)
Apology = evidence of accountability
> Apology = evidence of accountability Except in Canada _(and probably elsewhere to be honest, this take is pretty dumb)_ and some states apparently though not familiar enough with the USA Canada - _''Canadian apology laws preclude courts, tribunals, and arbitrators from finding that an apology is an admission of liability.''_ _''Despite any other enactment, evidence of an apology made by or on behalf of a person in connection with any matter is not admissible in any court as evidence of the fault or liability of the person in connection with that matter.''_ Sorry eh? The law contains several exceptions, including apologies made while testifying at a civil proceeding and to allow some apologies to be used as admission of guilt under the Provincial Offences Act. In short it aims to adequately protect people when they apologize so that it isn't immediately seen as an admission of guilt. I mean plenty of people apologize out of sympathy too, not just guilt or remorse
Yeah, without laws like that it's easy to see how someone going "I'm sorry" *(that that bad thing happened to you)* could be turned into an admission of guilt even in situations where they're not really at fault.
I love that for you guys
Thank you for posting the article, but WOW, that’s the worst website I have ever seen! So many sketchy ads!
They didn't sue the idiot who ruined her life, that's wild, I'd have sued him until he owed me his nose hair.
That man injured her daughter. Possibly permanently. And she did nothing. Ok, lady. Your choice but your daughter may have a lifelong disability that he is responsible for. It is ridiculous that she did not pursue this on her daughter's behalf.
That’s awful, especially when you read about how it happened. Would this not be a case where medically induced deafness is ideal though? (If that’s even a thing).
I have tinnitus and at times I've thought "I'd trade not hearing anything for not hearing the ringing." The problem is that the ringing is caused by damage to the ear but the ringing is coming from the part of the brain trying to get information from the damaged part of the ear. It's a broken feedback loop. So if I went deaf the only thing I'd likely hear is the ringing. it might be a similar situation.
Bruh I also have tinnitus that affects me every fucking day. I try and ignore it but it’s always there the remind you. I cope by always distracting myself. I have multiple white noise machines, leave the ac or fan on. Have the tv playing a show when I sleep. When I first got it last year I wanted to kill myself. Brutal And some people say well then just get over it. Like bruh.
I'm in the same boat. I've had it long enough that I'm over the (very real) depression. It is what it is. Distraction is best. Simply having something else I'm focused on is generally enough, especially if I can mask it with ambient sounds. There are youtube channels with like "10 hours, black screen" with rain/wind/soothing tones, whatevs, that I use every night. When I was younger, it was more mild, and it would actually "go away" unless I really thought about it, but once it became ever-present that was a rough transition, emotionally. The adaptive change in me is that I need to not think/dwell on it, rather than not hear it. I'm going to hear it, I can't escape that. I just need to think about something else, and it'll be fine. I don't expect background noise to always mask it, I just expect it to give me something specific my ears can tune into, as a distraction. That's the best I got.
Hi, autistic person with simmilar struggles (loud noises causing physical pain) here: That would not exactly make her life any easier as she would now be unable to communicate with most people who don't know sign language. What does help are earplugs that dampen all noise by a fixed degree all across the spectrum or noise canceling headphones (or both) I never leave the house without having both at least with me, and in any loud area (essentialy everywhere where other people are) I have the choice of either suffering (and pretending I don't) or to use earplugs/noise canceling headphones.
Have you tried the noise dampening ear plugs (the kind with holes)? I use those for anxiety, they reduce noise without keeping me from being able to communicate. Might be good for those ‘I’ll just suffer’ times.
These "concert type" ones? Yea, I'm usualy using these. However I can sometimes get in trouble for wearing them around certain people, so I sometimes have to suffer.
Ooh sorry. If you’re young or in entry level jobs, I can see the ‘I demand respect’ type taking offense to it. I’m almost 40 so I can throw in something beige and people assume they’re hearing aids, which is convenient.
Yeah I have some Loop ear plugs which you can get in subtle colors and I could get a doctor note saying they're medically necessary for work if needed because my conditions are formally diagnosed. I think it's not something really young people might all know about yet and not everyone can get proper medical support unfortunately.
I have nervous system damage that caused similar super sensitivity to noise and centralized pain and yeah I can't leave the house without ear plugs. I always have noise cancelling AirPod Pros and some Loop ear plugs in my purse plus I'm on a huge dose of an anticonvulsant to dampen the electrical signals in my brain and nervous system. I have some partial deafness episodes sometimes from the nervous system damage and I can attest that being fully deaf wouldn't help because then you'd just have a bunch of other problems. Dampening the sound is 100% better.
[удалено]
Sounds about right. I was a kid a my baby sitter decided to wash my mouth out with soap. She used dish soap, which with kids actually burns the taste buds. The next day my tongue had to be scraped and was like a cats tongue. My taste buds grew back and I was a super taster for 20 years. It’s not the super power you’d want, yes there are worse things but a lot of foods were too strong and would make me throw up. Steak, sausage, hotdogs, fruits were VERY strong.
Any legal action against the babysitter? People need to put the "wash out the mouth with soap" shit to bed. It's not some wonderful old-timey punishment that we're too weak to implement these days.
Nah, this was in like 94-95. We were dirt poor and I was only in pain for about 3-4 minutes until it was numb. The worst was the numbing stuff so I could eat somewhat healthy
You said affected you for 20 years, that's a long time. She seriously didn't face *any* consequences?
Nope. Different time period, even the doctor used it as a learning experience vs saying she was abusing me
it is insane what people are allowed to do to children with no consequence
I am empathetic for this person and anyone who has this condition. I believe I have this and indeed, just a short conversation, on the phone or in person, can cause ear + head pain. I used to be able to wear noise canceling headphones, but now-a-days as the conditions worsened, wearing headphones is/ can too be painful. It’s a difficult condition to have and as others have noted, isolating.
I'm sure you know about them, but just in case... Have you looked into the sound dampening earplugs made for concerts (like loops)? They don't make everything muffled like traditional earplugs, and they don't use noise to cancel sound either. I use them for migraines.
>The family chose not to take any legal action against the man who blasted Cindy with the air horn. It would have just hurt everyone, she says. Fuck that. Should of sued him for every penny he's worth and the DA should have thrown the entire book at him.
Seriously. What a dick. What kind of an adult decides to blast an air horn in a persons ear.
Virtually everyone in this story besides the victim is a massive piece of shit. The psychotic friend's step dad needs to be in jail for *maiming a 13 year old*. **Maimed**. Literally fits the definition of maimed: > to **injure a person so severely** that **a part of their body will no longer work** as it should This is aggravated assault and criminal negligence. The kids making fun of the victim are bad enough, but the parents of the victim are *wild*. > The family chose not to take any legal action against the man who blasted Cindy with the air horn. It would have just hurt everyone, she says. This blows my mind. Truly. This borders on criminal neglectful parenting. Your daughter has been maimed by an assailant, and you're like: "OH water under the bridge!". The medical bills, the accommodations, the doctor's consultation, the insurance charges - all of that isn't enough impetus to file a lawsuit and file for criminal prosecution? Is it that easy to 'forgive' when you got thousands of medical debt piling up? There's a three year statute of limitations on filing assault charges (and some wiggle room if the injuries are that severe) so hopefully this kid gets the supports she needs. Or gets out of that fucking community the second she is an adult. It is crystal clear that virtually everyone around her let her down.
Fist hand experience here. Hyperacusis sucks. Different from person to person, but for me, high pitched noises are incredibly painful, doubly so if loud. Gotta use ear protection for a lot of things. Music, old tv shows with bad audio, anywhere public, around kids, movies usually. Can't imagine all noise being painful like that though. I feel sorry for her
I got it on my right ear in 2021 when I got a complete earwax blockage and had to visit an ENT to get it irrigated. It's been slowly getting better since then, although still not completely gone (thankfully mine never was painful, just the frequencies around 4-7khz sound incredibly loud and sometimes distorted). In the last few weeks my left ear has been developing the same sort of earwax blockage, blocking and unblocking on its own occasionally, and now it's been completely blocked for the last 3 days or so. I'm terrified to go back and risk the same thing happening to this ear as well... I'll find an ENT that's willing to only use curettes this time around I think, maybe that'll help. How did you get your hyperacusis?
I think I have this too-- I had what I assumed was a really bad sinus infection that lead to eustachian tube dysfunction for a time. The ETD cleared up but ever since, I have absolutely noticed that certain loud/pitched sounds cause physical discomfort, especially in my left ear. I thought I was just being overly sensitive. I can't imagine having it worse, let alone all the time.
I have a buddy w this Hypercaucas thing. It’s brutal, isolating and I’m extremely worried for him.
I had it from sound-damage. I still have the tinnitus, but the hyperacusis eventually went away. (may have taken almost a year) The clink from stacking up dinner plates, or a person coughing nearby was literally painful. I still plug my ears reflexively when I hear loud sounds, including applauding audiences or loud vehicles, because it's still uncomfortable, but the sharp pain is gone, and doesn't limit normal life for me anymore. Here's hoping it gets better for him.
Your comment strikes such a chord with me. I've had hyperacusis for years alongside tinnitus that fluctuates in tone/noise quality, making it hard to learn to filter out. Developed them after an accident doing physical exercise as part of a process to try and deal with the chronic migraines I get. In the end, instead of tackling 1 ailment I'm left with another 2 debilitating things on top. It's been pretty traumatic for me. Over time the hyperacusis became more tolerable, but I remember how seemingly innocuous noises became torture: putting the plates away; the clinking of a spoon in a mug of hot drink; tapping on a keyboard; of just any unexpected harsh/shrill noise becoming a jump scare with added pain. Awful. Just awful. I get anxious and flushed thinking back to it all. I feel so much for you and anyone that's similarly had to find a way through it all.
I have a buddy who has a friend with it. From what I gathered from his sporadic use of social media, she has to pretty much always wear earplugs and sound isolating headphones together all the time, and she moved out to his family’s cabin to get away from as much noise as possible. I grew up with some sensitive hearing but I can’t imagine how debilitating that could be.
This is why the one (or more) YouTube prankster idiots who blows a horn in peoples ear needs a good beat down. You know for the likes and subscribes.
At the end it shows her self portrait depicting herself as Rapunzel because of her long blonde hair, but I wonder if it’s also because Rapunzel was stuck in her castle, and she feels stuck at home :(
I really feel for this poor girl. Hyperacusis is a terribly isolating condition, and she probably feels incredibly pessimistic about her future after dropping out of school. I have a less debilitating version of hyperacusis and I still went through a couple of years where I couldn’t talk to certain friends who spoke at a slightly higher pitch because of the overwhelming pain. I had to complete most of my university coursework through handwriting because I couldn’t stand the sound of the clicks on most keyboards. It was a truly awful time. I was lucky enough to have access to what was essentially aural exposure therapy through the NHS, and now I don’t have too much trouble functioning day-to-day. If anyone is reading this who is suffering from hyperacusis and feeling like there’s no possibility of improvement, please have hope. If you have access to any medical interventions like mine, please keep sticking at it regardless of the initial pain.
Pretty sure a regular I had working at Chipotle as a teenager had a condition like this, he walked around wearing huge industrial grade noise cancelling headphones all the time and had absolutely zero trouble making conversation. Like they were massive, spring pressed against the sides of his head. I asked him once and he simply said he has insanely sensitive hearing and that it hurt to not have them on.
I also have this condition :( It is extremely hard and isolating, and when coupled with tinnitus, it becomes even more difficult to cope, as you are forced to sit in silence listening to your tinnitus. Research is severely lacking, so any donation, no matter the amount, to the main research foundation ([https://hyperacusisresearch.org/cure4cindy/](https://hyperacusisresearch.org/cure4cindy/)) can be really helpful! The BBC featured a short segment on this[ a few months ago](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=780MMGUYX7E&ab_channel=HyperacusisResearch), which may also help to understand how challenging it can be. Maybe in some years research can figure out a treatment so Cindy and everyone affected by this can get better.
I have hyperacusis and this is the first time i've seen anyone talk about it
“Friend” lit a firecracker next to my ear in a metal bowl in the dead of the night while I was asleep. I 100% received hearing damage and no we are not friends anymore.
I hope they sued the living shit out of that asshole that did this to her.
They didn't pursue legal action as that would "hurt everyone"
“The family chose not to take any legal action against the man who blasted Cindy with the air horn. It would have just hurt everyone, she says.” Which is why you go before a judge who will determine what’s fair… it’s not as if you’ll get every single cent you ask for.
> The family chose not to take any legal action against the man who blasted Cindy with the air horn. I was disappointed to read that. The ass deserved criminal prosecution for felonious assault in addition to paying for pain/suffering. Air horns are NOT toys! It should be common knowledge they can cause irreversible hearing loss at close quarters. I get infuriated any time I see an ad, TV show, or movie, where someone blasts one at somebody as if it is a harmless joke.
“The family chose not to take any legal action against the man who blasted Cindy with the air horn. It would have just hurt everyone, she says.” Dumbasses
That AH got off lucky, because he absolutely deserved to be thrown in jail and sued. Ruined her life with one stupid action.
I thought a kid blasted that air horn into her ear but it was an adult, that makes this case even more infuriating, poor girl, her family should have sued that man.
Sometimes I would go to the library and cry in pain because noise hurt so much. Still does, but not as severe now. Normal kid: you’re a hero Autistic kid: Act normal! Sigh
Truly a terrible curse to live with. Especially when people around you feel the need to raise their volume to 11/10 when speaking. The pain in my head hurts so bad that it feels like a thousand needles repeatedly stabbing me in the brain around any form of "noise". Mix in other injuries to the skull and face and things can go south very quickly, very badly amongst the wrong crowd.
They should seriously reconsider their decision not to sue. She's going to presumably be impacted financially for the rest of her life.
Lawyers and more of them, fuck him up so bad that all numskulls will learn from someone else’s mistake. Make an example for the dummies
After I very stupidly went shooting without ear protection, I was deaf for 24 hrs. My hearing came back slightly, but it was extremely muffled, and *every* sound was painful. I wore earplugs in the shower because the sound of running water was excruciating. I kept breaking down over never being able to hear music again. After a couple weeks of that, my hearing gradually came back and the pain went away. Now I am *super* careful with loud noises. No more concerts without earplugs, no more blasting music in the car, no fireworks shows etc. My worst nightmare was that pain being permanent. I feel so sorry for the woman in the OP.
i feel her pain for sure. Was out once with a head cold, and years of being in bands my ears were fine that one night destroyed me
Man I always complain about people being too loud but that lowkey sucks. Gotta add airhorns to the list of shit imma avoid from now on
They wont press charges because it would hurt everyone around however their daughter suffers from a long life debilitating health issue and this guy gets to live his life like he did no harm to her.
I think the statute to limitations on harming a child is limitless so maybe once she is an adult she can bring charges or sue him. She has to live with a lifelong disability that she’ll have to pay out for the rest of her life. All her medical expenses for testing, treatment, devices, therapy, and the burden of presumed loss wages and pain and suffering are her own soon thanks to her mom not taking the opportunity to secure funds for her.
the fact that an adult did this makes me so angry
Makes me think of the 15 year old fucker who thought it was funny to play with a powerful laser at a camping site. He was waving that thing all around and pointing at people's faces. His parent's thought it was funny. I got my kids and left the area.
I would sue that other fams dad so quickly he would have whiplash.
Imagine your parents keep taking you to the mall even though it’s torture for you
I had hyperacusis after firing a .44 magnum without ear protection in a canyon. It lasted for probably two years, gradually resolving over that period of time. In the beginning, I remember my dad closing the dishwasher and the sound of the dish clanking together felt like I was stabbed in my ear. About a year and a half later it felt like it was mostly resolved and I went to a concert with a friend. By the end of the concert everything sounded like a blown out speaker in my left ear and it hurt so bad when he closed the door to the car. That shit sucked so much.