I have noticed that when im on party/in club with loud music then that loud muisc kinda hurts my ears less if im drinking. And that buzz is usually gone by morning. But when im sober then that noise hurts more and that buzz in ears lasts longer afterwards… So i was wondering, is it possible that drinking kinda “protects” ears by making senses less sensitive??
physically alchohol cant change anything… it can only influence your brain, thats why im wondering…
I believe alcohol surpresses pain on some level (that’s why alcoholics drink when they feel shit), but it won’t prevent damage. Be safe and wear ear protection. I don’t leave home without them.
Your ear has an inbuilt compressor, called a stapedial reflex action (using the three little bones in your middle ear), which effectively dampens your ear drum to attempt to lessen the sensitivity in extended noisy environments.
This is why, when you go into a quiet place afterwards, your hearing appears to be duff, as your hearing is still in “loud” mode. (Actually, that should be called “Protection” mode, as it means your hearing got an absolute thrashing).
This period of deafness is called Temporary Threshold Shift (TTS). And, when you go into a quiet place your hearing (hopefully) eventually re-sensitises to normal level sounds again.
As far as I know, I vaguely recall reading alcohol can actually tamper with the stapedial reflex action, possibly exposing you more to the same harmful noise levels but with less of the reflex protection.
Either way, you go deaf (when TTS occurs) for a reason - that your ear’s trying desperately to protect itself (specifically so the inner ear doesn’t get thrashed), and it can only bounce back so many times… Permanent tinnitus (ringing in your ear) is the worst.
I once heard of a study that claimed some cough syrup had a side effect of immunizing your ear against noise so the little hairs sensing the vibrations wouldn’t break so easy. It didn’t repair any damage already done but could prevent it. Can’t seem to find any articles on it now, maybe it was just BS.