Why Is Tinnitus Not More Common? Loud Bars, Concerts, Restaurants...

If tinnitus can occur from any sort of loud environment; loud bars, concerts, loud restaurants, basically anything in the harmful dB levels, why isn’t it more common?

Or do you guys suspect that more people have it than we realize? There seems to be a lot of people who talk about always having a buzz or hiss in their ear and thinking it was normal their whole life until discovering it’s not in their 20s or so.

Bars and clubs are packed to the brim every weekend, often with people who go out 3+ times a week. I also hardly ever see anyone wearing ear plugs at concerts or even loud sporting events.

Something does not add up.

 

My guess is that it may be under reported. It was only after getting tinnitus myself did I learn of so many of my friends who have it as well; they're just not bothered by it and don't talk about it. Also, for many tinnitus doesn't come on suddenly so those who don't protect themselves now may pay the price later.

 

I think lots of people have mild tinnitus. I know people in real life who have mild tinnitus but I don't know anyone who has severe tinnitus.

Not enough is known about tinnitus to fully answer your question.

People have different ears, hearing thresholds and researchers claim our brains play a significant factor so it's not just our ears and hearing - I dunno about that. I might agree with generic DNA differences being a factor though.

 

Hopefully before people do enough damage they grow out of the bar scene?
Then the next generation of club goers try to damage their ears... and the cycle repeats.

 

As ear damage is a cumulative thing, you can just assume that those people attending are just in the damage accumulation phase, and sometime 10-20 years out, BAM!

The other thing is something like 20% of the adult population has Tinnitus. But no one talks about it. And to add to that, one time there was a person in a group I was in who said they had tinnitus, and we went around the table and 8 of 10 people had or had it, with 7 saying it is active. Knew these people for years and we never knew.

 

Only 1-2% of the adult population say it has a negative effect on ordinary life. I guess all of here belong to those %.

 

I saw a post on Twitter going around promoting ear plug use at concerts, and mentioned that their ears ring constantly from the damage. There were a TON of comments and replies from people who looked young (high school/college aged) who mentioned they had no idea that hearing ringing in the quiet wasn't normal. I wonder why their tinnitus doesn't get worse? I'm sure since they thought it was normal they aren't exactly avoiding wearing headphones and going to loud bars and such, especially college students.

I know one coworker who has it - he is 27 years old. Doesn't seem like a party person but he said he's had it for a while. I have another coworker who is around 30, has a side job in a bar (4 times a week) and it's loud, and then goes out to bars and clubs after probably 4 times a week as well and is always wearing headphones.

It just seems to me that not many people my age have it (I'm 26) but everyone is constantly wearing headphones, listening to loud music, going to loud bars/concerts several times a month, go to clubs and are just fine.

Meanwhile I am afraid to blow dry my hair

 

As far as I'm aware, the fact that "only 1-2% of people with tinnitus have severe cases" is not based on chronic tinnitus patients, which would be a much more interesting number. One source I saw was based on asking people if they had had tinnitus that lasted for more than five minutes at a time during the last year and if so, how much it bothered them. Please correct me if I'm totally wrong here.

According to this study (not based on chronic tinnitus patients alone but 36% had near constant symptoms), it also doesn't seem like only 1-2% are severely affected.

Methods: The 2007 National Health Interview Survey (raw N=75,764) was analyzed, identifying adults reporting tinnitus in the preceding 12 months.

Regarding subjective severity:

• 7.2% believed it to be a big or a very big problem
• 20.2% thought it was a moderate problem
• 41.6% noted it to be a small problem
• with 31% not bothered by it at all

 

@Autumnly I don't know which kind, but my figure was from "internetmedicin" https://www.internetmedicin.se/page.aspx?id=3167, which is a site for doctors and nurses in the Sweden.

 

Thanks for the link! I see this "only 1-2% are severely affected" being mentioned a lot, I just don't think it adequately represents how many people are suffering since that number is not based on chronic tinnitus patients.

 

I was going to write the Swedish healthcare system first and changed my mind without deleting correctly, hence "the" Sweden. (I must correct myself. )

 

When I had mild tinnitus after years of loud clubbing, music and military service, I though that the hiss was just the sound of my blood flowing in the ears and quickly forgot about it. And the hyperacusis... I thought I can hear better ! so this cannot be bad... The brain can move this to the background if it thinks everything is just fine, and you don't hear it anymore.

I guess most music/bars/clubs people are in this situation

Later when I got very loud tinnitus, insane sound distortion and a lot worse hyperacusis after shooting very loud rifles with bad ear protection, tinnitus got my attention so this is when it all started and to this day, never stopped.

 

That's so sad. We're so different also, all of us. Some of us have "glass ears" that break and get worse easily, it seems, while others seem to have ears that don't get affected at all. Add to that our different ability to cope. I'm sure there are people with worse ringing than I have that just don't care much, for example.

 

I definitely had accumulated damage over the years from going out, but medication set off the chronic tinnitus increase

I assume body chemistry and environmental factors (including medicine or diet etc) are part of it - and some of it is luck and genetics (just like how not everyone who smokes gets cancer - but a ton of people do)

 

Astute observation. Actually in the UK bars and clubs are not that packed compared to 10 years ago mainly due to economics which I guess is a good thing as hopefully less people will end up with tinnitus.

Due to lack of publicity many people don't even realise what tinnitus is until it's too late. Must be especially crushing on the young suffers whose main joy comes from socialising and unable to fathom how to deal with devastation of Tinnitus.

I would have thought there would be more people on forums like this and Reddit. Though I agree tinnitus only affect a very small minority hence are on forums like these (me included). A lot of people including musicians whose tinnitus is so loud etc but seems to trot on life it nothing has happened to them. They accept it may get worse but are not bothered.

Admittedly I am struggling at the moment not with the tinnitus but noise sensitivity in both ears. Desperately want to go to music festival next month but I know its forbidden for loud tinnitus and hyperacusis suffers.

 

Completely agree, the prison feeling of living with this fragile auditory system is really awful. I almost get a panic attack when I think about going on a trip or vacation.

 

Yes planning a trip to Argentina which will be a fourteen hour flight from UK (then other flights during the trip) I am wondering if my ears can cope. It will be a very expensive trip which I could up cancelling so trying to weigh up the risks etc. With Tinnitus nothing is straight forward.

 

It seems like there is a genetic component to it, or some other unknown factor. Some people just don't seem to get tinnitus no matter how much insane noise they expose themselves to.

 

This is something I have asked myself many times as well.

I mean sure I have exposed myself several times to very loud sounds and its no real surprise I have T, but I know people who go to clubs and gigs night after night with ni hearing protection, always have their earphones/headphones on and they have no problems?! So unfair.

As others have said, a lot of people probably do have some mild tinnitus, but it surprises me that many dont speak up and think its a normal thing.

I also think there might be a genetic factor at play here. My dad is quite sensitive to loud noise and avoids it, although he doesnt have T or noise induced hearing loss as far as I'm aware. I inherited my luscious coat of body hair from him so its no real stretch to imagine I inherited my glass ears from him

 

I have a feeling many of my friends have it but it's also mild. I saw a post from someone on twitter that was like "I don't have tinnitus, my ear doesn't ring!" in response to someone but they were mentioning they do hear a buzzing/hissing sound.

Especially those people who live in big cities like NYC/SF. Chances are people living in places like this go to a ton of concerts, bars, restaurants regularly, as well as use public transportation. People select these cities for night life and entertainment, and even if you're not a drinker/club person there are still many loud settings that can bring on tinnitus (comedy shows, sports events, theater, restaurants, subway, etc) I simply don't believe the 10-20% statistic.

 

Hi Bobby, how old where you when you got yours? How bad was your hyperacusis initially?

 

I have a friend who spends maybe 2/3 days weekly in live dive bars, goes to at least 3 concerts monthly and has mentioned how she likes to be in the front row, and takes aspirin DAILY, yes, DAILY, and that is on top of drinking maybe 5 days a week. No tinnitus. I just... how.

 

Probably same as cigarettes, some will smoke their whole life and not develop cancer but someone can have a cigarette here and there and develop it.

 

I had a surgery this past July for which I had Oxycodone prescribed for about a week. I didn't take that longer than 4 days but did take a crap load of Advil because I thought it was "healthier" I'm sure this did some damage as well.

 

Same exact thing for me. Ear sensitivity is driving me crazy, white noise is annoying to listen to and certain songs have this new tone to them that result me in just giving up to music at all for the day.

The only music that doesn't seem to be offending at the time is Jazz so I'll just overload on John Coltrane for now I guess

I was devastated about not being able to go to concerts even a few weeks ago but I've gotten over that surprisingly. At this point, I just want to be able to socialize normally in moderately loud settings.

 

I originally brought a white noise device but found it annoying too. Later I just use white noise through an app on my phone and it was fine. I actually slept better with the app

Yes as long as the sensitivity is there ears we are unable to socialise at all. Listening to music more than 70 decibels seems to cause spikes too
How long have you had Hyperacusis. I seem to have mild burning sensation too in the ears. Strangely it moves ear to ear.

 

Actually, you don't need to smoke to develop lung cancer. You can simply be "unlucky".

I didn't get my tinnitus from loud noise. I was simply "unlucky" to get struck by a degenerative disease.

 

I am sorry. I truly hope if reincarnation is real, all the good people who have had to suffer in this lifetime will be rewarded with better lives.

 

Anyone else feel like you toggle between “an I really part of that unlucky 1%” or “am I just overly sensitive and need to toughen up and get a grip on it”?

 

I haven't read through all the posts in this thread yet, but here is my 2 cents.

Tinnitus is often a result of acoustic trauma, or it's caused by accumulative damage to your hearing system. When you're young, you tend to experience temporary tinnitus when you're laying in bed at night. If you have many of those nights, your tinnitus might become permanent.

Or, if you were close to a gun shot, you might get acoustic trauma, and permanent tinnitus straight away.

Some people's hearing system can heal itself well, while others' not. Apparently, Magnesium mineral deficiency, and unhealthy lifestyle, can negatively affect tinnitus! When you get like 50 or 60 years old, your body is becoming rather less able to heal itself from various damages, and therefore you get tinnitus. Tinnitus is common in older people.

According to some approximations, there might even be around 200 or 250 million people worldwide who suffer from permanent Tinnitus. There are way more than 10 million tinnitus sufferrers in the US, alone.. I think that many people have this disease, but only a small percentage of them is actually really bothered about it. I don't know the reason for that, because my tinnitus keeps getting worse, and I don't understand how some people can live with it their whole lives.

It's probably up to genetics of a person, but in my opinion, it takes a lot of ear damage to cause tinnitus at young age. When I think about all the noises and sounds that my ears have had to go through in the past 2 decades - My ears have been doing good, for the most part of my life. Unfortunately, I have tinnitus now, and my ears are very sensitive to any noises.

Can you imagine what parents have to go through, while raising their children? Imagine the noises and stress, for those parents... Yet, I haven't heard of a young person, who got their tinnitus by raising children.

I think that anyone can get tinnitus, because even guinea pigs can get them from listening to loud music. The scientists don't know the whole mechanism behind this, but 2020's are surely going to bring a lot of new information for us about tinnitus.