Do you recall the old tale of Johnny Appleseed? When you were younger you most likely heard the story of how Johnny Appleseed traveled around bringing fresh apples to communities (the moral of the story is that apples are good for you, and you should eat them).
That’s only partially accurate. At the end of the 19th century, Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman was his birth name) did in fact present apples to numerous parts of the United States. But apples weren’t as yummy and sweet as modern apples. In fact, they were mainly only used for one thing: creating hard cider.
Yup, every neighborhood that Johnny Appleseed paid a visit to received the gift of booze.
Alcohol and humans can have a complicated relationship. On the one hand, it’s terrible for your health (you will often notice some of these health symptoms right away when you feel hungover). But many individuals like to get a buzz.
This isn’t new. Since we’ve been recording history, people have been enjoying alcohol. But it could be possible that your hearing issues are being worsened by drinking alcohol.
So when you’re at the bar, loud music isn’t the only risk to your hearing health. It’s also the cocktails.
Drinking causes tinnitus
Most hearing specialists will tell you that drinking causes tinnitus. That isn’t really that difficult to believe. If you’ve ever partaken of a bit too much, you may have experienced something known as “the spins”. That’s when you get really, really dizzy and the room feels like it’s, well, spinning (particularly when you close your eyes).
When alcohol disturbs your inner ear, which is the part of your body responsible for balance, tinnitus can manifest.
And what else is your inner ear used for? Obviously, your hearing. Which means that if you’ve had the spins, it isn’t a surprise that you might have also experienced a buzzing or ringing in your ears that are characteristic of tinnitus.
That’s because alcohol is an ototoxic compound
The word ototoxic may sound daunting, but it simply indicates something that can be harmful to your hearing. This includes both the auditory nerves and the inner ear, essentially everything that connects your whole auditory system, from your ears to your brain.
Here are a few ways this can play out:
- The stereocilia in your ears can be harmed by alcohol (these delicate hairs in your ears transmit vibrational information to your brain for additional processing). These little hairs will never recover or grow back once they have been compromised.
- Alcohol can reduce blood flow to your inner ear. The deficiency of blood flow can itself be a source of damage.
- Alcohol can impact the neurotransmitters in your brain that are in control of hearing. This means that, while the alcohol is in your system, your brain isn’t functioning correctly (clearly, decision-making centers are affected; but so, too, are the parts of your brain in charge of hearing).
Tinnitus and hearing loss due to drinking are often temporary
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, thankfully, are usually not lasting when related to alcohol. As your body chemistry returns to normal, you’ll most likely start to recover some of your hearing and your tinnitus will wane.
Naturally, the longer alcohol is in your system, the longer it will take your ears to go back to normal. And it may become irreversible if this type of damage keeps happening continually. In other words, it’s completely possible (if not likely) that you can cause both permanent tinnitus and hearing loss by drinking too much and too frequently.
Some other things are happening too
Clearly, it’s more than just the booze. There are a couple of other elements that make the bar scene somewhat more inhospitable for your ears.
- Alcohol causes other problems: Drinking is also detrimental to other aspects of your health. Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and high blood pressure can be the outcome of alcohol abuse. And more profound tinnitus symptoms as well as life threatening health concerns could be the result.
- Noise: The first is that bars tend to be, well, noisy. That’s part of their… uh… appeal? Look, if you’re 20 it’s fine; if you’re 40 it’s a little bit too much. There’s much fun and merriment, people yelling, and loud music. All of that noisiness can, over time, cause damage to your hearing.
The point is, there are serious risks to your health and your hearing in these late night bar trips.
So should you stop drinking?
Naturally, sitting in a quiet room and drinking by yourself is not at all what we’re recommending. It’s the alcohol, not the socializing, that’s the root of the problem. So if you’re having difficulty moderating your alcohol intake, you could be creating significant issues for yourself, and for your hearing. You should talk to your physician about how you can get treatment, and start on the road to being healthy again.
In the meantime, if you’re a heavy drinker and you’ve noticed a ringing in your ears, it might be time to schedule an appointment with us to check for tinnitus.
