Do you recollect the old tale about Johnny Appleseed? When you were younger you likely heard the tale of how Johnny Appleseed traveled around bringing fresh apples to communities (you should eat apples because they’re a healthy choice and that’s the moral of the story).
Actually, that isn’t the entire reality. The authentic Johnny Appleseed (whose real name was John Chapman) did in fact bring apples to lots of states across the country at about the end of the 19th century. But apples weren’t as delicious and sweet as modern apples. In fact, they were generally only utilized for one thing: creating hard cider.
That’s right. Johnny Appleseed was delivering booze to every neighborhood he visited.
Humans have a complex relationship with alcohol. On the one hand, it’s terrible for your health (you will often notice some of these health issues immediately when you feel hungover). But many individuals enjoy getting buzzed.
This is not new. People have been drinking since, well, the dawn of recorded history. But if you’re dealing with hearing problems, including tinnitus, it’s likely that your alcohol consumption could be producing or exacerbating your symptoms.
So when you’re at the bar, loud music isn’t the only danger to the health of your hearing. It’s also the drinks.
Tinnitus can be caused by alcohol
The majority of hearing specialists will tell you that drinking causes tinnitus. That shouldn’t be too big of a stretch to believe. You’ve likely experienced “the spins” if you’ve ever had too much to drink. That’s when you get really, really dizzy and the room feels like it’s, well, spinning (especially when you close your eyes).
The spins will happen because the alcohol is interfering with the part of your body in control of balance: your inner ear.
And what else is your inner ear good for? Naturally, your ability to hear. So if alcohol can produce the spins, it’s not hard to believe that it can also produce ringing or buzzing in your ears.
Ototoxic substances, including alcohol, will cause tinnitus
The word ototoxic may sound intimidating, but it just indicates something that can be harmful to your hearing. This includes both the auditory nerves and the inner ear, basically everything that links your whole auditory system, from your ears to your brain.
There are several ways that this occurs in practice:
- Alcohol can damage the stereocilia in your ears (these fragile hairs in your ears convey vibrational information to your brain for further processing). Once those tiny hairs are damaged, there’s no coming back.
- There are neurotransmitters in your brain that manage hearing which can be damaged by alcohol. This means that, while the alcohol is in your system, your brain isn’t functioning effectively (both decision making regions, and hearing centers are impacted).
- The blood flow in your ear can also be reduced by alcohol. This in itself can become a source of damage (most regions of your body don’t especially enjoy being deprived of blood).
Drinking-associated hearing loss & tinnitus aren’t always long-term
So if you’re out for a night on the town or getting some drinks with some friends, you might notice yourself developing some symptoms.
The good news is that these symptoms (when they are caused by alcohol intake) are normally temporary. Your tinnitus will usually go away along with most of your hearing loss when your body chemistry goes back to normal.
Of course, the longer alcohol is in your system, the longer it will take your ears to go back to normal. And it could become permanent if this type of damage keeps occurring continually. In other words, it’s completely possible (if not likely) that you can generate both permanent tinnitus and hearing loss by drinking too much and too frequently.
Here are some other things that are taking place
It’s not just the booze, of course. The bar scene isn’t favorable for your ears for other reasons also.
- Noise: Bars are normally pretty loud. Some of their appeal comes from…uh.. just this. Look, if you’re 20 it’s fine; if you’re 40 it’s a bit much. There’s noisy music, loud people, and lots of yelling and mary-making. All of that noisiness can, over time, cause damage to your hearing.
- Alcohol causes other issues: Drinking is also detrimental to other aspects of your health. Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and high blood pressure can be the result of alcohol abuse. And all of these issues can inevitably be life threatening, as well as worsen more extreme tinnitus symptoms.
The point is, there are significant hazards to your health and your hearing in these late night bar visits.
So should you stop drinking?
Of course, we’re not implying that drinking alone in a quiet room is the solution here. It’s the alcohol, not the social interaction, that’s the root of the issue. So you may be doing considerable harm to your health and hearing if you’re having difficulty moderating your drinking. You should talk to your doctor about how you can seek treatment, and start on the path to being healthy again.
If you’ve noticed a loud ringing in your ears after heavy drinking, make an appointment with us for a consultation.
