People should wear earplugs to Christmas parties, urges hearing loss charity

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With just under two weeks to go till the day itself, Christmas party season is in full swing – but one charity is urging people to wear earplugs while merrily hopping from noisy pubs to noisier clubs.

Action on Hearing Loss is calling on festive revellers to take caution when it comes to their hearing, which can be severely damaged by repeated exposure to dangerously high noise frequencies.

The UK-based charity has warned that caring for your hearing this season is crucial in order to avoid lasting issues, such as tinnitus, which causes an incessant ringing in a person’s ears.

Tinnitus affects roughly one in 10 people in the UK. The condition can vary in severity, lasting anywhere from 24 hours to becoming permanent.

People with it may experience constant buzzing, whistling or whooshing sounds, either in addition to or in the place of ringing.

There is currently no cure, but relief strategies, as listed by the British Tinnitus Association, include muscle relaxation, meditation and visualisation exercise, which involves picturing yourself in another place to where you actually are and imagining all of the senses you may experience there.

“We don’t want people to stop going to music events and parties – that’s not what this is about,” explains Gemma Twitchen, senior audiologist at Action on Hearing Loss.

“There is a misconception that if you wear ear plugs you can’t hear or enjoy the music, but this is simply not true!

"Ear plugs will reduce the levels of dangerous sounds entering your ears, allowing you to listen to the music and enjoy it safely.”

The charity notes that in nightclubs, sounds can reach very high levels of up to 110 to 120 decibels; for context, a food processor typically produces 85 decibels of sound whereas an ordinary conversation is measured at 60 decibels.

Spending just 15 minutes listening to music at this high level can cause hearing damage, it adds.

The charity has published a list of top tips to help people protect their hearing while at clubs, gigs and pubs this season.

For example, they suggest avoiding standing near speakers for prolonged periods of time and taking regular breaks from the noise, either by wearing ear plugs or by stepping outside.