You just can’t get away 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 disappeared. you realize that the ringing is tinnitus but your starting to be concerned about how long it will last.
Tinnitus can be brought on by damage to the stereocilia inside of your ears (they’re the tiny hairs that pick up air vibrations which your brain then transforms into intelligible sound). Normally, too much excessively loud noise is the cause. That’s why when you’re sitting near a roaring jet engine, eating at a loud restaurant, or attending a concert, you notice tinnitus the most.
How Long Does Tinnitus Persist on Average?
There’s no cure for tinnitus. But tinnitus normally doesn’t continue indefinitely. How long your tinnitus persists depends on a large number of factors, including the primary cause of your tinnitus and your overall hearing health.
But if you find your ears buzzing after a noisy day of traveling, a day or two should be enough for you to notice your tinnitus fading away. Typically, tinnitus will persist for 16 to 48 hours. But sometimes, symptoms can last as long as two weeks. Further exposure to loud sounds could also cause tinnitus to flare up again, essentially resetting the clock.
If tinnitus persists and is affecting your quality of life, you need to consult a specialist.
What Causes Lasting Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is usually temporary. But sometimes it can be irreversible. Especially when the cause of tinnitus is something outside the mundane either with respect to origin or in terms of seriousness. Some examples are as follows:
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): The brain is where the majority of sound is processed. In certain cases, a serious brain injury (such as a concussion) might lead to tinnitus because those processors start to misfire.
- Hearing loss: In many cases, hearing loss and tinnitus are joined at the hip. So, no matter what causes your hearing loss, you could also end up developing (or noticing) permanent tinnitus alongside it.
- Repeated exposure: If your ears are ringing after attending one rock concert, imagine how they’ll feel after five rock concerts a week or if you’re a musician who plays live shows and practices all day. Continued exposure to loud sounds can result in permanent hearing injury, including tinnitus.
Permanent tinnitus is substantially less common than its more short-term counterpart. But there are still millions of Us citizens each year who are treated for permanent, or chronic, tinnitus symptoms.
How Can You Get Your Tinnitus to go Away?
You will want to find relief sooner rather than later regardless of whether your tinnitus is long term or temporary. There isn’t a cure for tinnitus but you can do certain things to minimize the symptoms (though they will probably last only so long):
- Find a way to mask the sound: You can in some cases mask the sound and get a good nights sleep by using some source of white noise including a fan or humidifier.
- Stay away from loud noises. Your symptoms could be extended or may become more intense if you keep exposing yourself to loud noises like a jet engine or rock concerts.
- Try to stay calm: perhaps it sounds somewhat… abstract, but remaining 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 step, if you can’t steer clear of loud environments, is to use hearing protection. (And, really, you need to be protecting your hearing whether you have tinnitus or not.)
To be certain, if you have permanent tinnitus, none of these strategies will cure your tinnitus. But it can be just as important to control and diminish your symptoms.
When Will Your Tinnitus Disappear?
Your tinnitus, in the majority of circumstances, will go away by itself. Just wait the 16-48 hours and your hearing should go back to normal. Nevertheless, if your tinnitus lingers, you’ll want to look for a solution. Finding a workable treatment is the best way to ultimately get some relief. If you think you have hearing loss (which is frequently associated with tinnitus) you should have your hearing checked.
