Do you recollect 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 (you should eat apples because they’re good for you and that’s the moral of the story).
Actually, that isn’t the whole truth. 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 they are now. In fact, they were generally only used for one thing: making hard cider.
Yup, every neighborhood that Johnny Appleseed paid a visit to was gifted with booze.
Alcohol and humans can have a complicated relationship. On the one hand, it’s bad for your health (and not only in the long term, many of these health effects can be felt immediately when you spend the early morning hours dizzy, vomiting, or passed out). But many people enjoy getting buzzed.
This is not new. People have been drinking since, well, the beginning of recorded history. But if you have hearing problems, including tinnitus, it’s possible that your alcohol use could be producing or exacerbating your symptoms.
Put simply, it isn’t only the loud music at the bar that can cause hearing troubles. It’s also the drinks.
Drinking causes tinnitus
The majority of hearing specialists will tell you that drinking alcohol causes tinnitus. That shouldn’t be too much of a stretch to accept. 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 (particularly with your eyes closed).
The spins will occur because the alcohol is interfering with the part of your body responsible for balance: your inner ear.
And what other role does your inner ear play a part in? Obviously, your hearing. So if alcohol can cause the spins, it isn’t hard to believe that it can also generate ringing or buzzing in your ears.
Ototoxic compounds, including alcohol, will cause tinnitus
The word ototoxic might sound intimidating, but it just indicates something that can be damaging to your hearing. The entire auditory system from your ears to your brain is included in this.
Here are a few ways this can play out:
- Alcohol can decrease flow of blood to your inner ear. The deficiency of blood flow can itself be a source of damage.
- Alcohol can degrade the stereocilia in your ears (these fragile hairs in your ears conduct vibrational information to your brain for additional processing). These little hairs will never recover or grow back once they have been damaged.
- There are neurotransmitters in your brain that manage hearing which can be harmed by alcohol. This means that, while the alcohol is in your system, your brain isn’t functioning efficiently (clearly, decision-making centers are impacted; but so, too, are the parts of your brain responsible for hearing).
Tinnitus and hearing loss caused by drinking are usually 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 generally not permanent when related to alcohol. Your tinnitus will typically go away along with most of your hearing loss when your body chemistry returns 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 occurring repeatedly. So if you drink too much too often, permanent damage could possibly happen.
Some other things are happening too
It isn’t only the booze, of course. The bar scene is not hospitable for your ears for other reasons also.
- Noise: The first is that bars are usually, well, noisy. Some of their appeal comes from…uh.. just this. Look, if you’re 20 it’s great; if you’re 40 it’s a little bit much. There’s much fun and merriment, people talking, and loud music. All of that noisiness can, over time, cause damage to your hearing.
- Alcohol causes other problems: Even when you put the hearing loss factor aside, drinking is rather bad for your health. Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and high blood pressure can be the result of alcohol abuse. And more severe tinnitus symptoms as well as life threatening health issues could be the result.
The point is, there are significant risks to your health and your hearing in these late night bar visits.
So should you stop drinking?
Obviously, we’re not suggesting that drinking alone in a quiet room is the answer here. The underlying issue is the alcohol itself. So if you’re having difficulty moderating your alcohol intake, you could be causing major issues for yourself, and for your hearing. You should consult your physician about how you can get treatment, and start on the path to being healthy again.
For now, if you drink heavily and you’ve noticed a ringing in your ears, it may be time to make an appointment with us to check for tinnitus.
