The ringing just won’t subside. It’s been over two days and you can still hear that irritating ringing in your ears. You’re aware that the ringing is tinnitus but your starting to be concerned about how long it will keep going.
Tinnitus can be brought on by injury to the stereocilia inside of your ears (they’re the tiny hairs that sense air vibrations which your brain then turns into intelligible sound). That damage is most often the result of overly loud sound. That’s why when you’re seated next to a roaring jet engine, or out at a noisy restaurant, or going to a concert, you notice tinnitus the most.
Under Typical Circumstances, How Long Will Tinnitus Last?
Tinnitus can’t be cured. But that doesn’t mean it’ll never go away. How long your tinnitus lasts will depend on a large number of factors, such as your general health and the underlying cause of your tinnitus.
But if you notice your ears buzzing after a noisy day of traveling, a day or two should be enough for you to observe your tinnitus going away. 16 to 48 hours on average is how long tinnitus will last. But it’s also not unusual for symptoms to linger, often for as much as two weeks. Additional exposure to loud noises could also trigger tinnitus to flare up again, essentially resetting the clock.
If tinnitus continues and is impacting your quality of life, you need to consult a specialist.
What Leads to Permanent Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is normally temporary. But that means it can be irreversible. When the root cause is not ordinary that’s especially true When it comes to intensity and origin. Some illustrations are as follows:
- Repeated exposure: After one rock concert, your ears will probably ring for a couple of days but frequent subjection will result in far more serious consequences. Continued exposure to loud noises can lead to irreversible hearing injury, tinnitus included.
- Hearing loss: Often, tinnitus and hearing loss are joined at the hip. So you might end up with irreversible tinnitus regardless of the cause of your hearing loss.
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): Much of the processing of sound occurs in the brain. In some cases, a traumatic brain injury (such as a concussion) might lead to tinnitus because those processors start to misfire.
Permanent tinnitus is considerably less common than its more short-term counterpart. But there are still millions of Us citizens each year who are treated for lasting, or chronic, tinnitus symptoms.
How do You Get Your Tinnitus to go Away?
You will want to find relief sooner rather than later regardless of whether your tinnitus is permanent or temporary. There is no cure for tinnitus but you can do some things to reduce the symptoms (though they will probably last only so long):
- Find a way to cover up the sound: You can sometimes mask the sound and get a good nights sleep by using some source of white noise including a fan or humidifier.
- Avoid loud noises. Attending another concert, hopping on another flight, or cranking the volume on your television up another notch may extend your symptoms or increase their severity.
- Use earplugs (or earmuffs): If you cannot avoid loud situations, then safeguarding your hearing is the next best step. (And, really, whether you have tinnitus or not, you need to wear hearing protection.)
- Try to keep calm: Maybe it sounds somewhat… abstract, but increased blood pressure can result in tinnitus flare ups so keeping calm can help keep your tinnitus at bay.
To be certain, if you have long-term tinnitus, none of these techniques will cure your tinnitus. But it can be just as important to control and diminish your symptoms.
How Long Before Your Tinnitus Subsides?
In most circumstances, though, your tinnitus will go away without you needing to do anything about it. Just wait the 16-48 hours and your hearing should return to normal. However, 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 often associated with tinnitus) you should have your hearing examined.