Not everyone is a festival or concert kind of person, but after this summer, I have found that I definitely am. After listening to the Wallows on the first day of Reading, I experienced temporary hearing loss, as did all my friends while we were walking away from the stage. Everything sounded muffled, and I also appeared to be shouting at a very high volume just to be heard by my friends and just to hear my own voice, while at the same time, receiving weird looks from people walking around me.
But it’s not just festivals and concerts that can cause temporary hearing loss. Playing music at 75%-100% volume for a long period of time can potentially have the same effect as loud music at a concert would, depending on whether the headphones have powerful-enough speakers or are noise-cancelling.
Either way, this sparked the question in my mind, how does temporary hearing loss actually occur?
Let’s start with some science. Inside the cochlea (our hearing organ in the inner ear), there are thousands of sound-sensing cells called hair cells. These tiny cells are essential for hearing: they pick up sound waves and turn them into electrical signals that are sent to the brain and interpreted as sound.
Experts agree that hair cells can start to become damaged by noise at around 85 decibels and above. This is a problem when you consider that music at festivals and concerts are often at a minimum of 110 decibels, and some headphones play music that’s just as loud when they’re at the highest volume.
When you’re exposed to too much loud noise, the hair cells become overstimulated. Once this happens, they become fatigued and stop responding to sound. This can result in temporary hearing loss that you may recognise as dulled hearing (like I did), and it can last from a few minutes to a few days. In my case, it lasted for around 25 minutes and for the next band I watched (the Kooks), my hearing loss only lasted for several minutes before immediately getting better which seems to be counterintuitive right?
This is because at first, after a break from loud noise, the hair cells may recover. But if you continue listening to music that’s too loud, over time, the hair cells may lose their ability to recover and die. Therefore, the hearing loss becomes noticeable and it’s permanent.
Research has shown that when hair cells are damaged, neurones (nerve cells in the brain) start searching for electrical signals that aren’t being received from the ear and may become hyperactive. It’s been suggested that this hyperactivity makes the brain more aware of the electrical ‘noise’ from the neurones, which is known as tinnitus.
Again, this can be temporary, but with continued exposure to loud music, it’s likely that the tinnitus will become permanent. Some people are more susceptible to noise-induced hearing damage than others. But it’s only possible to know your susceptibility once the damage is done.
So, let’s end with a very helpful analogy to prepare you for future concerts and festivals you may or may not go to. You can think of loud music affecting hair cells a bit like the way a fresh patch of grass is affected by someone trampling over it. Before the person walks on the grass, it stands upright and tall but over the course of a day, someone tramples on this patch and some of the blades of grass remain flattened. Over a day or two, some of the blades of grass may pop back up, but if someone keeps trampling over the patch of grass, more damage will be done, and the damage will become permanent.
So, what should I do? I hear you ask (if your hearing isn’t damaged of course).
Carry earplugs with you, stay far away from speakers (try get in the middle of the crowd) and take regular breaks from the loudest areas to give your ears a rest.
I hope you found this useful and are ready to prepare for the thrilling atmosphere that festivals and concerts bring.
See you next week for a new question and a new answer.
