Tinnitus, attendance at night-clubs and social drug taking in students

A questionnaire was used to collect data from 545 students of the Manchester Metropolitan University. The aim of the study was to investigate associations between the attendance of university students at night-clubs (NCs) that play loud music and the incidence and duration of post exposure tinnitus (PET) and spontaneous tinnitus (ST). The possible effects of taking social drugs in NCs on tinnitus was also investigated. Descriptive analyses and Chi squared association analyses were carried out. The study showed that 87% of students attended noisy NCs and there was a significant association between the attendance at NCs and the duration of PET. There was no significant association between frequency of attendance and the incidence of tinnitus, however non attendees were significantly less likely to get ST. The amount of social drug-taking was not as high as expected, only 19% taking drugs more than rarely, although the incidence may be under-reported. Taking drugs while at night-clubs would appear to exacerbate the effects of noise exposure on tinnitus. Non drug taking males were less susceptible to PET lasting longer than 2 hours and ST than non drug taking females, whereas drug taking males were more susceptible than drug taking females. Whereas PET has yet to be proved to be related to auditory damage, this study would suggest the effect of night-club noise exposure impedes tinnitus recovery and could prove to be an early sign of permanent damage.