Nightclubs and Tinnitus

[Chris Alexander]

Hi guys

Can anyone give me any stories about going to nightclubs when you have T? I have had T for about a year and pretty much used to it - it's not super intrusive but always there. I don't want to make it worse!

I have a 30th a week this Friday and it's in a loud night club called the Cathouse (where I developed my T a year ago haha!). Now I am getting ACS custom PRO 35 ear plugs fitted tomorrow. They have an overall sound reduction of 35db. Should this be safe enough as long as I stay away from speakers and take some breaks from the music? I appreciate it's pretty speculative as no one knows for sure but any insight would be good! Thanks

 

[V2016]

Sounds like you're doing the best you can to take reasonable precautions. For what it's worth, the one time I went to a night club after developing T, my T spiked that evening and the next morning, but then went back to its normal volume. One night in a club, especially with ear plugs, shouldn't make your T permanently worse.

 

[glynis]

Your doing your best to protect your ears so if you want to go just think of all the other people with no protection.
Your protecting your ears so it's up to you as long as you can cope with any unwanted emotions if get a spike etc....lots of love glynis

 

[Hopeful1]

I wouldnt do it earplugs didnt protect me from getting T

 

[fishbone]

Hi guys

Can anyone give me any stories about going to nightclubs when you have T? I have had T for about a year and pretty much used to it - it's not super intrusive but always there. I don't want to make it worse!

I have a 30th a week this Friday and it's in a loud night club called the Cathouse (where I developed my T a year ago haha!). Now I am getting ACS custom PRO 35 ear plugs fitted tomorrow. They have an overall sound reduction of 35db. Should this be safe enough as long as I stay away from speakers and take some breaks from the music? I appreciate it's pretty speculative as no one knows for sure but any insight would be good! Thanks

sounds like you have it covered

I went to a heavy metal concert Dec of last year and had a pair of 30db ear plugs...My T was not annoyed at all..and it was a 5 hour show...Those shows can hit as loud as 120+ Dbs

 

[Foncky]

So you want to go back to the place where you got your T.

To me it's a bad, bad idea, ear plugs or not. One night in a club might seem ok, so you'll go back again (why not ?), until it's too much for your ears because of cumulative damage (it's already been too much actually, since you got T).

Your T is not intrusive for now and you don't want to make it worse. You're right : a mild T is fine. A loud T is a very different beast.

It will be difficult to forget about night clubs at first if you really like it, but I'm sure you will find other ways to have great fun on Friday evenings. Man, you live in Glasgow, there's fun all over the city

 

[Bobby B]

There are no earplugs that can do 35 NRR as per the USA scale

Don't trust the plugs that much - going is fine but take breaks - 20 minutes in 20 minutes out in silence and so forth don't stay there for hours
That is if you have noise induced T

 

[Sebastians]

Didn't you have a recent spike from a rave? How did that go?
Recently defied my own logic and went for a drink in a bar with music. I'd say it was 70-75 db baseline, was super nervous but things were okay afterwards (no plugs). Would not go to a club though, those bass lines could mess up the inner ear, but if you do go, wearing earplugs and taking breaks, dehydrating and loading up on magnesiu will minimize any possible damage or spike..

 

[undecided]

I appreciate it's pretty speculative as no one knows for sure but any insight would be good! Thanks

You are correct. No one could know what might happen.
You might be ok or you might end up with a couple of new loud tones, since you actually mention that this is how you developed tinnitus in the first place. And if the music hits 120-130db for a large amount of time, I don't see how these (claimed) 35db noise reduction plugs are going to be of any use.

 

[Julien87]

120/130 db seems extreme.. Maybe peaks reach that level, but not music "for a large amount of time". At least I don't think so. Or this club is really the loudest of the country.
130 db si the pain threshold, I don't even think they would reach this at all or their customers would not come again.

 

[undecided]

OK then, let's settle for 110db or even 100 db (he says it's a loud club).
Permissible exposure time for 88db is 4 hours, 91 db 2 hours, 94db 1 hour.
For a person who already has sustained an acoustic trauma (which would suggest that said person's ears are NOT top of the range merchandise, if you get what I'm saying'), probably combined with alcohol consumption, I would recommend that he stays about 10000000 parsecs away from any loud club for rest of his life.

 

[Julien87]

This seems more realistic

For a person who already has sustained an acoustic trauma (which would suggest that said person's ears are NOT top of the range merchandise, if you get what I'm saying')

Well, actually, I have never read any evidence showing that a person having already experienced an acoustic trauma would be more at risk. The consequences of another trauma would be certainly worse for that person, but I'm not sure a trauma is more likely to occur in comparison with other people. I have actually read the opposite theory several times, based on the concept "a scar cannot grow, but there can be another scar". I am not sure about which one is correct though, that's a big question.
Anyway, we agree that there is a risk in going to such loud places, for him like for everybody else.

 

[undecided]

Well, actually, I have never read any evidence showing that a person having already experienced an acoustic trauma would be more at risk. The consequences of another trauma would be certainly worse for that person, but I'm not sure a trauma is more likely to occur in comparison with other people. I have actually read the opposite theory several times, based on the concept "a scar cannot grow, but there can be another scar". I am not sure about which one is correct though, that's a big question.
Anyway, we agree that there is a risk in going to such loud places, for him like for everybody else.

You are partly right.
Experiments on the subject are obviously extremely limited due to ethical reasons (you would not subject people with acoustic trauma to high db sound in order to observe how they react).

This study however, shows that a compromised cochlea is still susceptible to further damage even after having sustained an initial injury - however, the extent of the new trauma may be of diminished intensity because the cochlea is in a state of what is called - decreased endocochlear pressure.
From what I understand, that means you will probably still get hearing loss or/and tinnitus, just not as bad as the first time.

What I know is, if you play with fire, you will eventually get burned. The extent of the injury will only be determined by luck.

 

[uae96]

It's stupid decision mAybe bars are more quite

 

[TtotheInnitusBoy]

Take precautions proportionate to the risk. Be pragmatic. You still see Musicians playing live concerts with T don't you? In my opinion fearing T is worse than having T, as at least with the latter you have lived your life. It's a complicated dynamic but it's completely your decision. Like you say though, you don't want to make your T worse, so it looks like you're already decided on your position of that dynamic? Ie not chancing it? There are plenty of stories here where people have gone to clubs and been fine with ppe, others where they seem to regret it for an undefined amount of time. Not too sure how helpful my reply is, but probably more so than the above that rendered it "stupid" from the offset. Haha worst case scenario you could always just turn up for pre-drinks as that is the heart of the night anyway? Just don't let the booze cloud your judgement come "taxi time".