You just can’t escape from that ringing in your ears. That high pitched buzz in your ear has been bothering you since yesterday morning and it still hasn’t gone away. You know the sound is tinnitus, but you’re starting to wonder just how permanent tinnitus usually is.
Tinnitus can be brought about by injury to the stereocilia inside of your ears (the air vibrations which your ears turn into sound, are sensed by these tiny hairs). Normally, too much excessively loud noise is the cause. That’s why you observe tinnitus most commonly after, as an example, going to a concert, eating at a noisy restaurant, or sitting near a deafening jet engine while you’re traveling.
Under Typical Scenarios, How Long Does Tinnitus Persist?
Tinnitus can’t be cured. But tinnitus normally doesn’t continue forever. There will be a large number of factors that will determine how long your tinnitus will last, including your general health and the root cause of your tinnitus.
But if you find your ears buzzing after a noisy day of traveling, a day or two should be enough for you to observe your tinnitus going away. On average, tinnitus will last 16 to 48 hours. But sometimes, symptoms can last as long as two weeks. Further exposure to loud noises could also cause tinnitus to flare up again, essentially resetting the clock.
It’s usually recommended that you see a specialist if your tinnitus continues and particularly if your tinnitus is impacting from your quality of life.
Why is Tinnitus Sometimes Irreversible?
Usually, tinnitus is short-lived. But sometimes it can be long-lasting. Especially when the cause of tinnitus is something out of the ordinary When it comes to degree and origin. Here are some examples:
- Repeated exposure: After one rock concert, your ears will ring for a couple of days but repeated exposure will result in far worse consequences. Continued exposure to loud noises can result in irreversible hearing injury, including tinnitus.
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): Most of the processing of sound occurs in the brain. In certain cases, a serious brain injury (such as a concussion) could cause tinnitus because those processors begin to misfire.
- Hearing Impairment: Tinnitus and hearing loss often go hand in hand. So, whatever the cause of your hearing loss is, you might also end up developing (or noticing) permanent tinnitus alongside it.
Short term tinnitus is far more common than permanent tinnitus. But permanent or chronic tinnitus still impacts millions of Us citizens every year.
How do You Get Your Tinnitus to go Away?
Whether your tinnitus is short lived or long term, you may want to find relief as quickly as you can. There is no cure for tinnitus but you can do a few things to lessen the symptoms (though they will probably last only so long):
- Find a way to mask the sound: Sometimes, utilizing a white noise device (like a fan or humidifier) can help you mask the sound of tinnitus and, thus, overlook the symptoms (and, you know, get a restful night’s sleep in the process).
- Try to stay calm: perhaps it sounds a little… abstract, but keeping calm can really help keep your tinnitus under control, mostly because increased blood flow can stimulate tinnitus flare-ups.
- Wear earplugs (or earmuffs): The next option, if you can’t avoid loud situations, is to use ear protection. (And, really, you should be protecting your hearing even if you don’t have tinnitus.)
- Steer clear of loud noises. Attending another concert, hopping on another flight, or cranking up the volume on your earpods another notch may extend your symptoms or increase their severity.
To be sure, if you have long lasting tinnitus, none of these techniques will cure your tinnitus. But reducing and controlling your symptoms can be equally important.
When Will Your Tinnitus Disappear?
In most circumstances, though, your tinnitus will go away without you having to do anything about it. Your hearing should return to normal within 16 to 48 hours. Nevertheless, if your tinnitus lingers, you’ll want to look for a solution. Discovering a workable treatment is the best way to finally get some relief. If you think you have hearing loss (which is commonly associated with tinnitus) you should get your hearing examined.