How Alcohol Impacts Tinnitus

Alcohol and Tinnitus: The Reason for the Ringing

If you’ve had this experience first-hand, you know how unnerving it can be. You’re chilling on your couch, minding your own business as you scroll through your Facebook updates. Suddenly, you hear a ringing. What is this? A new app feature? A carbon monoxide alarm that’s low on batteries? You check every possible source to no avail. There’s no outside cause. The ringing is coming “from inside the house” — or, more precisely, from inside your ears.

Yikes! What caused this unrelenting buzz, and, most importantly, how can you stop it? Known as tinnitus, the ringing is a common phenomenon (and a maddening one, at that). But did you know that alcohol and tinnitus share a link? If you’ve ever noticed your ears ringing after drinking, it’s time to take a closer look at the science behind it. How does alcohol affect the ears? Can alcohol cause hearing loss? And why do my ears ring when I drink? Let’s find out!

Let’s Talk Tinnitus

Irish playwright Richard Steele writes, “I have often lamented that we cannot close our ears with as much ease as [with] which we close our eyes.” And boy, do those of us who have tinnitus agree.

Symptoms of Tinnitus

Tinnitus is the medical term for hearing sounds (usually ringing) that are not actually there. Individual symptoms can vary — some hear sounds in one ear, while others hear them in both, and some hear them somewhere else in the head. For some people, moving their head or other parts of the body might trigger the sound — a phenomenon called “somatosensory tinnitus.”

According to the NIH, most people describe tinnitus as a ringing sound. However, the full playlist of possible sounds includes many others:

• Roaring
• Buzzing
• Whistling
• Humming
• Hissing
• Clicking
• Squealing
• Wooshing
• Shrieking (yikes!)

Thankfully, we typically only experience one of the sounds at a time. That said, having one of these phantom “ringtones” is fairly common. Nearly 15% of people experience tinnitus! And, as it turns out, children can have it, too.

For both kids and adults, tinnitus might improve or disappear with time, but not always: occasionally, it gets worse with time. When the noise doesn’t stop for 3 months or longer, it’s considered chronic.

The pitch, volume, and complexity of the sounds can be as varied as the ears they haunt. Some people even hear full-on symphonies and other auditory hallucinations or “phantoms” along with tinnitus.

Types of Tinnitus

While most tinnitus cases are known for the persistent ringing, there are two different types:

• Subjective. By far the most common type, subjective tinnitus involves noises only you can hear.
• Objective. In this case, internal functions in the cardiovascular or musculoskeletal system create the sound, making it audible through a stethoscope.

Despite their differences, both are equally bothersome and leave us scrambling for answers.

Tinnitus Causes

What causes tinnitus? That’s the million-dollar question. Frustrating as it is, it’s largely a medical mystery, but here are several suspects on the list of potential causes:

• Noise exposure. Many of us might experience tinnitus after loud noise exposure at work or a loud event, such as a concert or sports game. It’s also common in war veterans who have been exposed to loud gunfire and bomb blasts.
• Stress or trauma. An injury to the head or neck can damage parts of the ear or the nerves involved in transmitting sound signals to the brain. This can “turn up the volume” on any incoming signals. According to the NIH, the effect is a bit like “phantom limb pain in an amputee,” with the brain compensating for missing signals.
• Ear problems. Sometimes tinnitus is caused by something as simple as ear wax or fluid from an ear infection that blocks the ear canal. It can also be linked to Ménière’s disease — a disorder of the inner ear that leads to balance problems and hearing difficulties.
• Other illnesses. Other illnesses can sometimes trigger tinnitus, even if they don’t originate in the ear. For example, jaw problems resulting from teeth grinding could be the culprit. Blood pressure fluctuations can also be a trigger.
• Some medications. Occasionally, tinnitus can be caused by certain medications, such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (such as ibuprofen, naproxen, and aspirin), antibiotics, anti-cancer drugs, antimalarial drugs, and some antidepressant medications.
• Alcohol. Alcohol is on the suspect list of many conditions, including tinnitus. Drinking can potentially cause tinnitus or make it worse.

This last one is why we’re here today. Are alcohol and tinnitus connected? And if so, how?

How Alcohol Impacts Tinnitus

The link between alcohol and tinnitus has puzzled scientists for quite a while. Can alcohol cause tinnitus? And does alcohol make tinnitus worse? Some studies came back inconclusive. For example, one recent study investigated the effects of smoking, alcohol, body mass index, and caffeine intake on tinnitus. While smoking was clearly linked, the same couldn’t be said for alcohol.

Still, there are several objective reasons why alcohol and tinnitus are, indeed, linked. Put simply: if you drank enough to have “the spins,” you may experience tinnitus.

What about if you already have tinnitus, will alcohol make it worse? The answer, once again, is yes. It all starts with the interaction between alcohol, tinnitus, and our hearing in general. How does alcohol affect the ears? Here’s the gist:

• Alcohol contains ototoxic compounds. Ototoxic compounds damage the ear and can degrade the stereocilia (tiny hairs that vibrate to transmit signals to the brain).
• Alcohol can impact the neurological processes involved in hearing. When booze is in our system, our neurological processes go haywire. In addition to making us call our exes to leave embarrassing messages or forget the names of people we met five minutes ago, it can also interfere with pathways involved in hearing, sometimes leading to tinnitus.
• Alcohol disrupts our blood pressure. Remember how we said blood pressure fluctuations can trigger tinnitus in some people? Well, alcohol is notorious for causing vasodilation — the widening of blood vessels — which initially increases blood flow to different body parts, including the ears. This can temporarily increase inner ear fluid, triggering tinnitus. However, vasodilation also leads to a rebound spike in blood pressure and reduced blood flow to the ears, which can also lead to tinnitus.

As we can see, there are several reasons why alcohol isn’t ear-friendly. If we know we’re prone to tinnitus or are already struggling with it, it’s yet another reason why it’s best to steer clear of overindulging.

How Long Does Alcohol-Induced Tinnitus Last?

When can we expect to feel better? It’s hard to tell since there are many individual factors at play.

If our tinnitus begins after a heavy bout of drinking, it should clear up in a few hours to a few days (provided we don’t make it a habit). Of course, the recovery time might be longer if we also smoke, take certain medications, or are under a lot of stress.

A good rule of thumb is this: if the tinnitus is bothersome, and it’s been more than 48 hours, check with your doctor for advice.

If I Stop Drinking Alcohol, Will My Tinnitus Go Away?

Once again, the answer is “definitely maybe.” Always check with your doctor if you’re concerned to make sure that the tinnitus isn’t a sign of something serious.

That said, quitting or cutting back on alcohol will improve our quality of life and reduce our chances of developing tinnitus in the future. For example, stress and poor sleep have been linked to tinnitus. Less alcohol means less stress and better sleep, reducing our chances of recurring tinnitus.

Can Alcohol Cause Hearing Loss?

And while we’re at it, let’s address the link between alcohol and hearing loss. Can alcohol cause hearing loss? Science says it’s possible. Remember how we said that drinking too much over time can damage the delicate hair cells in the inner ear? Those are crucial for transmitting sound to the brain. Moreover, alcohol can affect the central auditory pathways in the brain, leading to difficulties in processing and interpreting sounds.

How To Treat and Prevent Tinnitus After Drinking

What can you do about the “post-booze” buzzing in your ears? Can you speed up the healing process at all? While there’s no clear-cut cure for tinnitus, there are some things you can do at home or with a practitioner to help treat and prevent it:

Home Remedies and Prevention

Before you rush to your doctor, try some at-home remedies and lifestyle changes: 


1. Watch your intake. First and foremost, cut back on drinking (and loud bars if that’s a common activity) and see if the ringing improves. Ready to say goodbye to booze completely? Even better! Either way, Reframe is here to help you every step of the journey.
2. Protect your hearing. While you’re out, protect your hearing. Don’t stand too close to the amps, keep earplugs in your wallet or purse when going to loud concerts (don’t worry, you’ll still hear everything), and use a device such as an Apple watch to gauge noise levels.
3. Ease the stress. Stress and tinnitus are connected, so plan some mini-breaks into your day. Try meditation or deep breathing — both will help you stay mindful of your drinking habits, so it’s a win-win.
4. Get some sleep. Poor sleep can make tinnitus worse, and alcohol won’t help either.  Despite making us doze off initially, it robs us of the most restorative stages of sleep.

5. Mask the sound. Sometimes focusing on another sound can offer relief from the constant ringing. You can simply run the dishwasher or dryer or try a sound machine or wearable sound generator. You can also browse The American Tinnitus Association's sound library with anti-tinnitus tunes such as brown noise, purring cats, rivers, fountains, and more. 


If the sound persists (or you have other symptoms), please ask your doctor for advice!

Professional Treatment

When it comes to treating alcohol-related tinnitus, a lot depends on the particulars of our case. The doctor will first try to determine if it’s related to a medical issue, such as an injury to the ear or jaw. If symptoms persist, they might recommend several possible treatments:

• Sound Therapy. An audiologist can conduct habituation sound therapy, which involves listening to sounds of a similar frequency as the auditory “intruder.” The idea is to get the brain so accustomed to the sound that it tunes it out as part of the normal background.
• Behavioral therapy. A lot of the discomfort associated with tinnitus comes from our response to the sound, so sometimes we have to train our brain to respond differently. Behavioral therapy, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), can help.
• Medication. While there’s no anti-tinnitus medication per se, sometimes doctors can prescribe sleep aids or antidepressants to ease the psychological discomfort associated with tinnitus.
• Bimodal stimulation. These devices provide relief by pairing sound tones with touch to reduce the impact of the tinnitus-associated noise.
• Deep brain stimulation. Deep brain stimulation uses high sound frequencies to trigger changes in the neuronal organization of the brain to provide relief.

Research is ongoing, and new treatment methods are being developed as we speak. Still, treatment is often a trial-and-error process.

Ringing in Change

Tinnitus can be frustrating, but there’s another way to look at it. If it’s triggered by our habits or lifestyle (whether that’s a bit too much alcohol, stress, or lack of sleep), we can see it as our body’s persistent (albeit annoying) plea to change our habits. Let’s respond to that plea by taking action. This can be a challenge, but it’s well worth the effort!