The ringing just won’t go away. It’s been more than two days and you can still hear that irritating ringing in your ears. You know the sound is tinnitus, but you’re starting to wonder just how long lasting tinnitus usually is.
Tinnitus can be brought on by injury to the stereocilia inside your ears (they’re the very small hairs that sense air vibrations that your brain then converts into intelligible sound). That injury is most often the result of excessively loud sound. That’s why when you’re sitting next to a roaring jet engine, or out at a loud restaurant, or going to a concert, you notice tinnitus the most.
How Long Does Tinnitus Persist on Average?
Tinnitus can’t be cured. But that doesn’t mean it’ll never subside. How long your tinnitus lasts depends on a large number of factors, such as your overall health and the underlying cause of your tinnitus.
But if you just returned home from a noisy day of traveling and you find your ears buzzing, a couple of days should be sufficient for you to notice your tinnitus going away. 16 to 48 hours on average is how long tinnitus will persist. But it’s also not abnormal for symptoms to stick around, sometimes for as long as two weeks. Additional exposure to loud sounds could also cause tinnitus to flare up again, essentially resetting the clock.
It’s usually suggested that you consult a specialist if your tinnitus continues and especially if your tinnitus is detracting from your quality of life.
Why is Tinnitus Sometimes Permanent?
Tinnitus is normally impermanent. But that means it can be irreversible. When the root cause is not ordinary that’s particularly true When it comes to intensity and origin. Some examples are as follows:
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): The brain is where the majority of sound is processed. When those processors start to misfire, due to traumatic brain injury, tinnitus can be the result.
- Repeated exposure: After one rock concert, your ears will probably ring for a couple of days but repeated exposure will result in far more serious consequences. Frequent exposure to loud sounds can cause permanent hearing damage, including tinnitus.
- Hearing Impairment: Often, hearing loss and tinnitus are joined at the hip. So, whatever the cause of your hearing loss is, you may also find yourself developing (or noticing) irreversible tinnitus along with it.
Permanent tinnitus is substantially less common than its more temporary counterpart. But there are still millions of Americans every 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 as soon as possible regardless of whether your tinnitus is permanent or temporary. Even though there’s no cure for tinnitus, there are certain things you can do to decrease symptoms (however long they may endure):
- Use earplugs (or earmuffs): If you cannot avoid loud environments, then protecting your hearing is the next best step. (And, really, you should be protecting your ears even if you don’t have tinnitus.)
- Find a way to mask the sound: You can sometimes drown out the sound and get a restful nights sleep by utilizing some source of white noise including a fan or humidifier.
- Try to stay calm: Maybe it sounds a little… abstract, but remaining calm can really help keep your tinnitus in check, mostly because increased blood flow can induce tinnitus flare-ups.
- Stay away from loud noises. Attending another concert, jumping on another flight, or cranking up the volume on your earpods another notch may extend your symptoms or increase their severity.
To be certain, if you have permanent tinnitus, none of these techniques will cure your tinnitus. But decreasing and managing your symptoms can be equally significant.
When Will Your Tinnitus go Away?
Your tinnitus, in the majority of scenarios, will recede by itself. Just wait the 16-48 hours and your hearing should return to normal. Nevertheless, if your tinnitus persists, you’ll want to look for a solution. Finding a workable treatment is the best way to finally get some relief. If you think you have hearing loss (which is frequently associated with tinnitus) you should have your hearing examined.