How likely is it to experience hearing loss from alcohol abuse?

Answer 1

Any use of alcohol causes slight amounts of nerve damage and hearing loss over time. However in the studies I have read there is a saturation point reached at even just 1 or 2 drinks a day. Beyond that point alcohol "abuse" has no more effect on hearing loss than the amount caused by what is typically considered safe consumption of alcohol.

Basically if you are worried about hearing loss, avoid alcohol entirely. But if you already drink alcohol, any amount of it in a given period will cause about the same amount of hearing loss because the nerves in that area reach a saturation point for small nerve clusters that is reached after just a drink or two and they do not absorb more alcohol for a period of time.

Note this applies only to hearing loss, alcohol abuse can cause a variety of other problems from over consumption (liver failure, etc). But alcohol abuse does not do any more damage to hearing than normal volumes of consumption.

On a side note, chronic alcohol abuse is often accompanied with poor nutrition and vitamin intake which could further damage a persons hearing.

And one further note, in extreme cases of alcohol abuse where a persons mental clarity has been damaged (noticeable when a person develops a permanent lisp), they may be so easily distracted that they do not listen or pay attention to their surroundings, which can appear to be hearing loss even if the nerves in the ears are not actually damaged to a point where hearing has been lost. They just don't focus well enough to know they should be listening all the time.