Remember the old tale of Johnny Appleseed? When you were younger you probably heard the tale of how Johnny Appleseed traveled around providing fresh apples to communities (the moral of the story is that apples are healthy, and you should eat them).
That’s only partly true. At the end of the 19th century, Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman was his real name) did in fact bring apples to numerous parts of the United States. But apples weren’t as yummy and sweet as modern apples. In fact, they were mostly only used for one thing: creating hard cider.
Yup, every neighborhood that Johnny Appleseed visited received the gift of booze.
Alcohol and humans can have a complex relationship. It isn’t good for your health to start with (and not just in the long run, many of these health impacts can be felt right away when you spend the early morning hours dizzy, throwing up, or passed out). But many people like to get a buzz.
This is not new. Humanity has been drinking since, well, the beginning of recorded time. But it could be possible that your hearing issues are being worsened by drinking alcohol.
Put simply, it’s not just the loud music at the bar that’s bad for your hearing. It’s also the drinks.
Tinnitus can be caused by alcohol
Most hearing specialists will agree that drinking can trigger tinnitus. That shouldn’t be too much of a stretch to believe. If you’ve ever partaken of a little too much, you might have encountered something called “the spins”. That’s where you get really, really dizzy and the room feels like it’s, well, spinning (particularly when you close your eyes).
The spins will manifest because the alcohol is interfering with the part of your body in control of balance: your inner ear.
And what other role does your inner ear play a part in? Hearing, of course! So if alcohol can trigger the spins, it isn’t difficult to believe that it can also create ringing or buzzing in your ears.
That’s because alcohol is an ototoxic substance
The word ototoxic might sound daunting, but it just indicates something that can be damaging to your hearing. The entire auditory system from your ears to your brain is involved in this.
There are several ways that this occurs in practice:
- Alcohol can decrease blood flow to your inner ear. This in itself can become a source of damage (most regions of your body don’t especially enjoy being starved of blood).
- There are neurotransmitters in your brain that handle hearing which can be harmed by alcohol. So your brain isn’t working efficiently when alcohol is in your system (both decision making regions, and hearing centers are affected).
- The stereocilia in your ears can be damaged by alcohol (these delicate hairs in your ears conduct vibrational information to your brain for further processing). Once those delicate hairs are damaged, there’s no repairing them.
Tinnitus and hearing loss due to drinking are usually temporary
You might begin to detect some symptoms when you’re out on the town having a few drinks with friends.
These symptoms, luckily, are usually not permanent when caused by alcohol. Your tinnitus will typically clear up along with most of your hearing loss when your body chemistry goes back to normal.
Naturally, the longer alcohol is in your system, the longer it will take your ears to go back to normal. And it could become irreversible if this kind of damage keeps happening continually. So if you drink too much too often, permanent damage could possibly occur.
Here are a couple of other things that are happening
It’s not only the alcohol, however. The bar scene isn’t hospitable for your ears for other reasons as well.
- Alcohol causes other issues: Drinking is also bad for other facets of your health. Alcohol abuse can result in health issues like high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. And all of these problems can inevitably be life threatening, as well as contribute to more significant tinnitus symptoms.
- Noise: The first is that bars tend to be, well, loud. That’s part of their… uh… charm? But when you’re 40 or more it can be a bit much. There’s loud music, loud people, and lots of yelling and mary-making. Your hearing can be compromised over time by this.
The point is, there are significant hazards to your health and your hearing in these late night bar visits.
So should you stop drinking?
Obviously, we’re not saying that drinking by yourself in a quiet room is the answer here. The root issue is the alcohol itself. So if you’re having trouble moderating your alcohol intake, you could be causing major problems for yourself, and for your hearing. You should consult your doctor about how you can get treatment, and start on the road to being healthy again.
If you’ve detected a loud ringing in your ears after heavy drinking, schedule an appointment with us for a consultation.