Do you recollect the old tale about Johnny Appleseed? When you were younger you most likely heard the story of how Johnny Appleseed traveled around bringing fresh apples to communities (you should eat apples because they are good for you and that’s the moral of the story).
Actually, that isn’t the entire reality. The real Johnny Appleseed (whose real name was John Chapman) did indeed introduce apples to lots of states across the country around the end of the 19th century. But apples weren’t as delicious and sweet as modern apples. Making hard cider, in fact, was the chief use of apples.
Yup, every community that Johnny Appleseed visited received the gift of booze.
Alcohol and humans can have a complicated relationship. It isn’t good for your health to begin with (you will frequently notice some of these health problems immediately when you feel hungover). Nevertheless, humans typically like feeling intoxicated.
This is not new. Since humans have been recording history, people have been enjoying alcohol. But it may be possible that your hearing problems are being increased by drinking alcohol.
Simply put, it’s not just the loud music at the bar that’s bad for your hearing. It’s the beer, too.
Tinnitus can be caused by alcohol
The fact that alcohol causes tinnitus is something that hearing specialists will usually validate. That’s not really that hard to accept. You’ve most likely experienced “the spins” if you’ve ever had too much to drink. When you’re dizzy and the room seems like it’s spinning after drinking this is what’s known as “the spins”.
When alcohol disturbs your inner ear, which is the part of your body in control of balance, tinnitus can manifest.
And what else is your inner ear good for? Hearing, of course! So if alcohol can bring about the spins, it’s not difficult to believe that it can also produce ringing or buzzing in your ears.
Ototoxic substances, including alcohol, will cause tinnitus
Now there’s a scary word: ototoxic. But it’s actually just a fancy word for something that damages the auditory system. This involves both the auditory nerves and the inner ear, basically everything that connects your whole auditory system, from your ears to your brain.
Here are a number of ways this can play out:
- Alcohol can damage the stereocilia in your ears (these delicate hairs in your ears conduct vibrational information to your brain for further processing). These little hairs will never heal or grow back once they have been damaged.
- Alcohol can decrease blood flow to your inner ear. The lack of blood flow can itself be an origin of damage.
- Alcohol can impact the neurotransmitters in your brain that are in control of hearing. So your brain isn’t working properly when alcohol is in your system (clearly, decision-making centers are affected; but so, too, are the portions of your brain responsible for hearing).
Drinking-associated hearing loss & tinnitus aren’t necessarily long-term
So if you’re out for a night on the town or having some drinks with some friends, you may notice yourself developing some symptoms.
These symptoms, luckily, are usually not permanent when caused by alcohol. As your body chemistry returns to normal, you’ll likely start to recover some of your hearing and your tinnitus will decline.
Naturally, the longer alcohol is in your system, the longer it will take your ears to return to normal. And it could become permanent if this type of damage keeps occurring continually. In other words, it’s entirely possible (if not likely) that you can cause both permanent tinnitus and hearing loss by drinking too much and too often.
Some other things are occurring too
It isn’t only the booze, however. There are a couple of other factors that make the bar scene somewhat more unfriendly to your ears.
- Noise: Bars are usually pretty loud. That’s part of their… uh… appeal? But when you’re 40 or more it can be a bit much. There’s noisy music, loud people, and lots of yelling and mary-making. Your hearing can be compromised over time by this.
- Alcohol causes other problems: Even if you put the hearing loss factor aside, drinking is pretty bad for you. Alcohol abuse can lead to health problems like high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. And all of these issues can inevitably be life threatening, as well as contribute to more severe tinnitus symptoms.
In other words, the combination of the environment and the alcohol make those late night bar visits a potent (and risky) mix for your ears.
So should you quit drinking?
Of course, we’re not saying that drinking by yourself in a quiet room is the answer here. It’s the alcohol, not the socializing, that’s the source of the issue. So you could be doing considerable harm to your health and hearing if you’re having a hard time moderating your drinking. Your doctor can help you move towards living a healthier life with the correct treatment.
If you’ve detected a loud ringing in your ears after heavy drinking, schedule an appointment with us for a consultation.