You might want to consider terminating your perusing of the British tabloids---it would most certainly reduce your anxiety level.
FWIW---I suspect this could have some substance to it---which has been ignored by the stellar source of this story.
I suffered a sudden loss of hearing (the medical term which is abbreviated by SLH) last Nov in my right ear. Literally, I woke up in the middle of the night with a terrible ringing in my ears and what I was to find out a total loss of hearing in one ear.
It has had a profound impact on me. My left ear has tried to compensate and by doing so loud noises become almost unbearable. I now carry an ear plug with me and if I am in a noisy venue (as in many restaurants) I have to plug my left ear which allows me to both tolerate the noise level and be somewhat functional in the conversation.
I have also become somewhat of a tyrant in meetings---I can deal with one speaker quiet adequately but when multiple people begin to speak simultaneously I become confused and what is being said is simply incoherent. I am unable to separate sound sources and it simply becomes a jumble of noise to me.
I have since talked to a number of people who suffer from partial hearing loss (including SLH) and hear similar stories.
My wife who wears two hearing aids also told me that is the reason so many people today use devices in both ears to prevent a similar condition of confusion.
Now---would I ask others to not clap or cheer---no---but do I now avoid venues like that when possible---absolutely.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis