Your Summer Playlist Might Be Costing You More Than You Think: Noise, Tinnitus, and Your Hearing This June

Summer in Atlanta arrives with a full soundtrack. Outdoor concerts at Ameris Bank Amphitheatre, festivals on the lawn, Fourth of July celebrations with fireworks that shake the ground, and the ambient roar of lawn equipment that fills every Saturday morning in the suburbs. These are the hallmarks of the season — and for a significant number of people, every one of them represents an exposure that their ears will still be registering years from now.

Noise-induced hearing loss is one of the most preventable forms of hearing impairment in the world — and one of the most widely underestimated. It doesn’t happen in a single dramatic event most of the time. It accumulates. It builds across a lifetime of concerts, stadium events, power tools, and earbuds turned up to drown out background noise. And by the time the effects become obvious, the damage that caused them is permanent.

At Julie Zweig, MD Integrative Sleep & ENT in Alpharetta, Dr. Zweig and audiologist Dr. Deb Brewer work with patients at every stage of this spectrum — from those just beginning to notice changes in their hearing to those managing established sensorineural hearing loss. The consistent message from the clinical team: the summer months are both when hearing is most at risk from noise exposure and when people most consistently fail to protect themselves.

What Actually Damages Hearing

The inner ear contains tiny hair cells — sensory cells that convert sound vibrations into electrical signals the brain interprets as sound. These hair cells do not regenerate. Once damaged, they’re gone permanently, and the frequencies they were responsible for processing are diminished or lost.

Noise damages these cells through two primary mechanisms. Acute acoustic trauma occurs at very high intensity levels — a gunshot, an explosion, a detonating firework at close range. The structural damage to the hair cells can be immediate and severe.

Chronic noise exposure works more insidiously. Repeated exposure to sound levels above 85 decibels over time causes cumulative damage that progresses gradually. Most people are unaware it’s happening because their hearing changes slowly, and the brain compensates — filling in gaps, adjusting thresholds — until the compensation reaches its limit and the loss becomes apparent.

For context on where summer activities fall on the decibel scale:

• Fireworks at close range: 140–165 dB (immediately above the threshold for instant structural damage)
• Live concerts and stadium events: 100–115 dB (safe exposure at this level is less than 2 minutes under OSHA standards)
• Lawn mowers and leaf blowers: 90–100 dB (prolonged exposure without protection contributes to cumulative damage)
• Earbuds at high volume: 100–110 dB (the duration and frequency of use is what most people underestimate)

Tinnitus: The Signal You Shouldn’t Ignore

Tinnitus — the perception of ringing, buzzing, hissing, or clicking sounds in the ears in the absence of an external source — is one of the most common early indicators of noise-related cochlear damage. Roughly 15% of American adults experience some form of chronic tinnitus, and noise exposure is among the leading causes.

The temporary ringing most people experience after a loud concert is a warning — evidence that the hair cells were stressed by the exposure. For many, this resolves within hours. For others, particularly those with repeated exposures, the ringing becomes persistent and doesn’t fully resolve between events. Over time, what began as a temporary annoyance can become a constant feature of daily life.

Dr. Julie Zweig is double board-certified in otolaryngology and Sleep Medicine — one of the few physicians in the Atlanta area, and among a small number of women nationally, to hold both designations simultaneously. She completed her medical degree at Emory University School of Medicine summa cum laude and her five-year otolaryngology residency at the University of Pittsburgh Eye and Ear Institute. Castle Connolly recognized her with the Exceptional Women in Medicine Award in 2023 and Top Doctor in Atlanta designations in both 2024 and 2026. Her evaluation of tinnitus patients goes beyond the symptom itself — assessing auditory function comprehensively, ruling out treatable underlying causes (including vascular abnormalities, eustachian tube dysfunction, and medication effects), and coordinating audiological care through Dr. Brewer’s expertise.

The Summer Hearing Protection Conversation

Hearing protection has an image problem. Most people associate earplugs with construction sites, not concerts — and the result is that large numbers of people attend dozens of loud events every summer without any protection at all. The culture around outdoor music especially normalizes high-volume exposure in ways that clinical audiology has been trying to counter for decades.

What’s changed is the product category. High-fidelity earplugs — available at modest cost and designed specifically for music listening — reduce volume evenly across frequencies without muffling sound or sacrificing the experience. Musicians have used them professionally for years. They allow conversation and full sound appreciation while providing genuine protection. The difference between wearing these at a concert and going unprotected is measurable in the cumulative decibel exposure the inner ear receives over a summer of events.

For patients who attend events regularly, use earbuds frequently, or operate loud equipment, a baseline audiometric evaluation provides a reference point. Knowing what your hearing looks like now is valuable for identifying changes over time — and for catching early-stage damage while hearing conservation and protection can meaningfully slow progression.

When to See an ENT Before Summer Gets Further Along

There are symptoms that warrant evaluation sooner rather than later:

• Tinnitus that began after a loud event and hasn’t fully resolved: Persistent post-exposure tinnitus deserves assessment, particularly if it has lasted more than a few days.
• Difficulty understanding speech in background noise: This is often one of the earliest functional signs of high-frequency hearing loss, even when overall hearing seems fine in quiet environments.
• Sudden change in hearing in one ear: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is a medical urgency. Treatment window matters — early intervention with appropriate therapy significantly improves outcomes.
• A sense of fullness or pressure in the ears: This can reflect middle ear issues, eustachian tube dysfunction, or other conditions that are treatable when caught early.

Protect What You Can’t Get Back

Julie Zweig, MD Integrative Sleep & ENT is located at 2650 Holcomb Bridge Road, Suite 510, in Alpharetta, serving patients throughout the greater Atlanta area including Roswell, Dunwoody, and surrounding North Atlanta communities. Dr. Zweig and Dr. Brewer offer comprehensive hearing evaluations, tinnitus assessment, and custom hearing protection including musician-quality earplugs and custom swim molds for summer water activities.

Call (404) 255-4080 to schedule. The season is loud. Make sure you’re still hearing it clearly when it’s over.