Most people would have experienced this. After being in the presence of loud sounds, there may be a mild ringing in the ears. It doesn’t necessarily have to be headphones. You could be at a concert with booming speakers or in a movie theatre with loud blasting surround sound and once the sound stops, voila! A ringing sound in your ears. You’re probably wondering why this happens.
Ear Ringing (Tinnitus) Disappear
In most cases, it will be a mild and temporary case of tinnitus. It may seem harmless but it’s not. If one is exposed to such loud noises on a constant or daily basis such as those whose occupation entails exposure to loud noise, the end result may be permanent tinnitus or even hearing loss.
If you have a ringing sound in your ears when you take off your headphones, you’re listening to music that is too loud for your ears to handle. Your hearing is getting damaged without you even realizing it.
In order to understand what is happening, you need to know the anatomy of your ear. Our ears have many small hairs in the cochlea. These hairs vibrate wh?n sounds enter th? ear. Since the hairs are attached to nerve cells from the roots, the vibrations are picked up and sent to the brain through nerve impulses. The brain then interprets these as sound.
Any sound louder than 110 decibels can damage the hairs in your ear by bending or breaking them. These hairs are very sensitive and loud music or sounds are too violent for the hairs to handle. When the hairs are bent, the ringing sounds which are a trademark of tinnitus will be heard. These sounds will last for as long as it takes for the hair to straighten out. In the unfortunate event where the hair breaks, you might experience hearing loss and further exposure to loud noise will cause permanent damage.
Another way the hairs will be affected is if you overexpose them to loud sound or music. The sensitive hairs will get over stimulated and once this happens, they will keep sending signals to the brain even after the sound or music stops. The brain will interpret these signals as sound and you will hear the ringing in your ears even when there is no sound in your external surroundings.
There are a few way you can prevent this ringing sound without sacrificing the loud concerts that you love. Ideally, you should avoid loud sounds, but if for some reason you can’t, you should get a pair of ear plugs. Bring the ear plugs to any concert and use them when the loud music starts. You will still be able to hear the music and enjoy it without missing a beat and your ears will be safe. If you’re using headphones that plays music, just listen to it at a lower volume. If you love music, you will take care of your hearing so that you can carry on enjoying your tunes.