People laugh about tinnitus, but ‘the next time you go out can have major consequences for the rest of your life’ warns economics student Maurits. Maurits (his last name is known to the editors) suffers from tinnitus. He always suffers from that. “I always hear a very high beep. I especially suffer from it when it is completely quiet at home, when I go to sleep, when I have been drinking and when I am stressed.”
quarter of young people
Tinnitus, also known as ringing in the ears, can be caused by prolonged exposure to loud noise. Protect your ears with party plugs going out may feel strange, until it gets to the point where the ringing in your ears never goes away. Maurits feels that those risks are not yet getting through to everyone around him.
March 3rd is World Hearing Day. The World Health Organization (WHO) organizes this annual international day to raise awareness about hearing damage and deafness.
In total there are two million people with tinnitus in the Netherlands. A quarter of Dutch young people between the ages of 12 and 25 probably have hearing damage, researchers at the Academic Medical Center Amsterdam concluded in 2015 based on online self-tests. This number has increased in recent years due to our use of headphones and earphones, but also due to excessively loud music at nightlife venues. Experts fear a significant increase in the number of tinnitus patients in the coming years.
Annoying
It might be embarrassing to put in those earplugs or suggest to your group of friends to move a little further away from the loud speakers. But Kimberley Boutkan (24, Health Economics, Policy & Law) is not ashamed. She finds the subject important, partly because her brother suffers from hearing loss. Kimberley: “I don’t care what others think, this is about my health. So when I go out, which doesn’t happen very often, I always wear earplugs to protect my hearing.”
Catering and entertainment venues play a major role in the increasing tinnitus problem. The WHO recommends a maximum volume of 100 decibels, but this is not further incorporated into Dutch law. There is a guideline from the RIVM that states that clubs may produce a noise level of 103 decibels. That doesn’t seem to make much of a difference, but an increase of 3 decibels is equivalent to a doubling of the noise level.
Bad quality
There are hard agreements between employers and employees, for example to protect catering staff. According to the Working Conditions Act, employees must wear hearing protection from 85 decibels.
An EUR student who works at a bar in the Oude Haven (his name and employer are known to the editors) says that this does not happen everywhere in practice. “My collective labor agreement and contract state that the company must provide earplugs to their employees. Unfortunately, this is not done in practice. Earplugs have only recently been available in the office for staff, but they are of poor quality, which makes working with those earplugs very difficult. That’s why most of my colleagues have now bought their own earplugs. There was once an intention to give everyone custom earplugs, but the owner does not want to spend money on that.” The following applies to guests: “It is everyone’s own responsibility to arrange hearing protection.”
Bass in the chest
You may wonder why the music has to be so loud. Partygoers often like this themselves. For example, history student Mikki van Spall (23) says: “The most annoying thing is really when you are in a club and the music is too soft.” People want to feel the bass in their chests and in a club you don’t want to hear each other sing along out of tune.
Catering owner Jesse Pronk (37) has tinnitus himself. He is a ‘provider’ of loud music as the owner of the Colorado Charlie entertainment venue in Scheveningen, a popular club on the beach among Rotterdam students in the summer. He says: “I also have tinnitus myself, for ten years now.” The question is where the responsibility lies exactly, with the government, the entertainment venues or with the music lovers themselves. Something that Pronk does notice: “The diehards walk straight forward. And yes, the sound is louder on the dance floor.”
What does Pronk do to prevent hearing damage in his audience? “We offer disposable earplugs for 1 euro and we are working on a new installation system that distributes the volume more evenly across the room.”
Professor of Neurophysiology Gerard Borst conducts research into tinnitus at Erasmus MC. He is investigating whether people with tinnitus have more difficulty hearing as a result of their tinnitus. He explains that there are two types of tinnitus: “Objective tinnitus is rare, the sound can also be heard by others and is caused by, for example, sounds produced by blood vessels or vibrating ossicles in your ear. Subjective tinnitus is produced in your brain. This variant is much more common.”
What exactly is subjective tinnitus? “The nerve cells in your brain involved in processing sound exhibit abnormal firing behavior and do so even in the absence of sound. Most people who have tinnitus for several months never get rid of it. Stress can exacerbate the burden of tinnitus complaints.”
“There is a link between hearing loss and tinnitus. You can get tinnitus from too loud music, but you can also get tinnitus without hearing damage. The exact causes of tinnitus are not yet well known.” For the time being, Borst advises to stay away from loud music. Or else to protect your hearing and thus prevent hearing loss and reduce the risk of tinnitus.
Suicidal thoughts
Our hearing plays a pretty important role in our well-being. Many people with tinnitus experience psychosocial problems. “When you consider that tinnitus can lead to suicidal thoughts, I’m still fine,” says economics student Maurits. There is no cure for tinnitus, but there are therapies that can relieve the symptoms. Prevention and education are crucial.
Fortunately, the subject is being discussed more and more, in the media but also among students, says Maurits. “I think many people are well aware that tinnitus can make your life miserable, but they take the risk too lightly. That is why it is important that they are well informed about this.” Tinnitus is easy to prevent, but then you have to be aware of it in time.
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