Why do our ears ring after we go to a loud concert? That ringing often comes with an uncomfortable underwater feeling that can last up to a couple of days. What’s going on?
The issue is with the microscopic hairs in the inner ear called stereocilia. Their job is to vibrate and turn acoustic energy into the electrical impulses the brain can interpret as sound. But a loud concert basically vibrates these little guys to death. It takes a few hours or a few days for them to get back to normal—that is, the ones that weren’t killed by the music.
Here’s the scary bit: hair cells do not regenerate in humans. We have a finite number of stereocilia, and when we damage or kill them to a certain degree, we experience hearing impairments. That might mean reduced ability to hear anything or an annoying, never-ending ringing called tinnitus, where the brain tries to turn up its inner volume control so it can hear stuff it seems to be missing.
Bottom line? Use hearing protection at concerts and turn those headphones down.
© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Ad Choices
