The ringing just won’t go away. That high pitched ringing in your ear has been irritating you since yesterday morning and it still hasn’t disappeared. you realize that the buzzing is tinnitus but your starting to worry about how long it will keep going.
Tinnitus can be brought on by damage to the stereocilia inside your ears (they’re the small hairs that sense air vibrations that your brain then turns into intelligible sound). Normally, too much excessively loud sound is the cause. That’s why you observe tinnitus most often after, as an example, going to a concert, eating at a loud restaurant, or being seated next to a roaring jet engine while you’re taking a trip.
How Long Does Tinnitus Persist on Average?
Tinnitus can’t be cured. But tinnitus normally doesn’t continue forever. How long your tinnitus lasts depends on a wide variety of factors, like your overall health and the underlying cause of your tinnitus.
But if you find your ears ringing after a noisy day of traveling, you can typically expect your tinnitus to disappear in a day or two. 16 to 48 hours typically is how long tinnitus will persist. But it’s also not uncommon for symptoms to linger, sometimes for as much as a couple of weeks. And tinnitus will return if you are exposed to loud noise again.
It’s typically suggested that you consult a specialist if your tinnitus continues and specifically if your tinnitus is impacting from your quality of life.
What Causes Lasting Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is usually impermanent. But in some cases it can be irreversible. Particularly when the cause of tinnitus is something outside the mundane When it comes to intensity and origin. Some illustrations are as follows:
- Hearing Impairment: Tinnitus and hearing loss frequently go hand in hand. So you could end up with irreversible tinnitus no matter what the cause of your hearing loss.
- Traumatic Brain Trauma (TBI): The brain is where most sound is processed. In certain cases, a traumatic brain injury (such as a concussion) could lead to tinnitus because those processors begin to misfire.
- Repeated exposure: After one rock show, your ears will probably ring for a couple of days but continued exposure will lead to far more serious consequences. Frequent exposure to loud noises can result in permanent hearing injury, tinnitus included.
Permanent tinnitus is substantially less common than its more short-term counterpart. But there are still millions of Americans each year who are treated for permanent, or chronic, tinnitus symptoms.
How do You Get Your Tinnitus to Subside?
You will need to get relief as soon as possible regardless of whether your tinnitus is permanent or short term. Despite the fact that there isn’t any cure for tinnitus, there are a few things you can do to reduce symptoms (however long they may endure):
- Find a way to mask the sound: In some cases, employing a white noise device (such as a humidifier or fan) can help you cover up the noise of tinnitus and, thus, overlook the symptoms (and, you know, get a good night’s sleep in the process).
- Try to stay calm: Maybe it sounds a little… abstract, but higher blood pressure can bring about tinnitus episodes so keeping calm can help keep your tinnitus at bay.
- Avoid loud noises. Attending another live show, hopping on another airline, or turning up the volume on your earpods another notch may extend your symptoms or double down on their severity.
- Use earplugs (or earmuffs): If you cannot steer clear of loud environments, then protecting your hearing is the next best option. (And, really, you need to be protecting your ears whether you have tinnitus or not.)
To be sure, if you have permanent tinnitus, none of these strategies will cure your tinnitus. But decreasing and controlling your symptoms can be just as important.
How Long Before Your Tinnitus Subsides?
In the majority of circumstances, though, your tinnitus will subside without you needing to do anything about it. Just wait the 16-48 hours and your hearing should return to normal. However, you will want to look for a solution if your tinnitus lingers. The sooner you find a treatment that is effective, the sooner you can get relief. Get your hearing checked if you think you have hearing loss or tinnitus.