Clubbing and Hearing Protection

[Bart]

Hello Dr. Nagler,

Yesterday I attended a birthday party in a club, due to circumstances we had to stand not far from the speakers and the music was very loud (sometimes you could literally feel the bass).

Of course I wore custom made Variphone earplugs with a music filter, 25-30 dB reduction and I had some breaks where I went outside. We were there for many hours and I drank too much as happens with birthday parties.

Today I woke up and my tinnitus is much louder and annoying, did I make a huge mistake by attending this party?

Thanks.

 

[Dr. Nagler]

Hello Dr. Nagler,

Yesterday I attended a birthday party in a club, due to circumstances we had to stand not far from the speakers and the music was very loud (sometimes you could literally feel the bass).

Of course I wore custom made Variphone earplugs with a music filter, 25-30 dB reduction and I had some breaks where I went outside. We were there for many hours and I drank too much as happens with birthday parties.

Today I woke up and my tinnitus is much louder and annoying, did I make a huge mistake by attending this party?

Thanks.

Hello @Bart -

What a great question ... because likely the only person attending that party who did not make a mistake is the one who wonders if he made a mistake! No. No. No. You did not make a mistake. You did everything right. You attended a birthday party at a club, which is a normal social thing to do. Indeed, when folks with tinnitus avoid normal social interaction, that's a mistake. And having decided to attend the party, in anticipation of possible excessive noise levels, you wisely brought along ear protection. Excellent. Finally, realizing that the sound was too loud, you actually used your ear protection properly. Better than excellent! So where's the mistake??!!

As I see it, everybody attending the party at that club probably knocked off a hair cell or two ... or more. Everybody except you, that is. You are just fine in that regard - because you had proper ear protection! So why is your tinnitus louder, you wonder? Could be any number of reasons, but not because you damaged your ears or made some sort of mistake. In fact, just worrying about whether or not you made a mistake by going to the party can, itself, aggravate your tinnitus! You did nothing wrong, @Bart, and given a bit of time and patience, your tinnitus should settle back down.

Hope this helps.

All the best -

Stephen M. Nagler, M.D.