your favourite nightclub might be the reason you have to see your ent specialist so frequently the nightclub scene thrives on people looking for a place to blow off steam and dance till their feet hurt but all this while theres something that nobody is thinking of something that cant go away with an aspirin or a foot massage the next morning the ringing in the ears they say the louder the better but what about our hearing that becomes collateral damage of too much partying coupled with lack of awareness of the medical repercussions being exposed to too much noise in nightclubs can cause major damage to hearing and thats true not just for the partygoer even the cool dj at the console or the scary bouncer at the doors is at massive risk when highend nightclub lap relaunched recently guests at the inaugural bash were seen holding their ears on the dance floor even as the floor shook with the intensity of the musics volume thats not an unfamiliar scene in cities a recent study done in ireland has found that nightclub employees could be exposed to dangerously high noise levels putting them at greater risk for hearing loss study author aoife kelly said that over time noise exposure greater than 85 decibels for eight hours a day can lead to permanent hearing loss work safety laws in the european union require hearing protection to be provided to workers exposed to more than 85 decibels but theres no such thing in india we asked several nightclub owners djs and club hoppers if they know what their ears are in for when they enter a nightclubindian clubs too loud any noise beyond 90 decibels leads to hearing damage and it actually becomes painful beyond 120 decibels and in nightclubs the noise can easily go up to 120 decibels legally in factories you cant have workers exposed to sound beyond 85 decibels but theres no such thing for nightclubs hereent consultant dr anup sabherwal five to 10 of my patients complain of hearing problems because of the music in nightclubs dr dhirendra singh there are many djs who used to be my favourite but arent anymore because they have started playing bad music as they have lost 3040 of their hearing they destroy other peoples ears also dj iggy in front of the speakers in a club the sound is generally 95 decibels so on the floor its less than that in hardcore dance places in india however the sound is often a maximum of 105 decibels on the dance floor shekhar mishra sound engineercant hear properly after coming out of a club partygoers most partygoers agree that once they come out of the club they have to shout to talk and strain to hear because their ears are ringing while in some cases the ringing lasts for only a few minutes in some more worrisome cases it lasts from an hour to a day amita