The ringing just won’t go away. It’s been over two days and you can still hear that nagging ringing in your ears. You acknowledge the noise is tinnitus, but you’re beginning to wonder just how long lasting tinnitus normally is.
Tinnitus can be brought about by damage to the stereocilia inside your ears (the air vibrations which your ears turn into sound, are sensed by these tiny hairs). That damage is typically the result of excessively loud sound. That’s why you notice tinnitus most often after, as an example, attending a concert, eating at a noisy restaurant, or sitting next to a roaring jet engine while you’re traveling.
Under Normal Scenarios, How Long Does Tinnitus Last?
Tinnitus can’t be cured. But tinnitus usually doesn’t continue forever. How long your tinnitus lasts depends on a large number of factors, like the root cause of your tinnitus and your overall hearing health.
But if you just returned home from a noisy day of traveling and you notice your ears ringing, you can normally expect your tinnitus to go away in a day or two. Typically, tinnitus will persist for 16 to 48 hours. But often, symptoms can last as long as a couple of weeks. Additional exposure to loud sounds could also trigger tinnitus to flare up again, effectively resetting the clock.
If tinnitus lingers and is impacting your quality of life, you need to consult a specialist.
Why is Tinnitus Sometimes Irreversible?
In most cases, tinnitus is temporary. But that means it can be irreversible. Specifically when the cause of tinnitus is something out of the ordinary When it comes to severity and origin. Some examples are as follows:
- Hearing Impairment: In many cases, tinnitus and hearing loss are joined at the hip. So, whatever the cause of your hearing loss is, you could also wind up developing (or noticing) irreversible tinnitus alongside it.
- Traumatic Brain Trauma (TBI): The majority of the processing of sound occurs in the brain. In certain cases, a serious brain injury (such as a concussion) could lead to tinnitus because those processors start to misfire.
- Repeated exposure: If your ears are buzzing after one rock concert, think of how they’ll feel after several rock concerts a week or if you’re a musician who plays live shows and practices all day. Repeated exposure to loud sounds can lead to irreversible hearing damage, tinnitus included.
Short term tinnitus is a lot more common than lasting tinnitus. But permanent or chronic tinnitus still effects millions of Americans every year.
How Can You Get Your Tinnitus to go Away?
Whether your tinnitus is short term or long term, you may want to get relief as soon as possible. Even though there isn’t any cure for tinnitus, there are certain things you can do to lessen symptoms (however long they may last):
- Steer clear of loud noises. Going to another concert, jumping on another flight, or cranking the volume on your television up another notch might prolong your symptoms or double down on their severity.
- Try to stay calm: Maybe it sounds somewhat… abstract, but higher blood pressure can trigger tinnitus flare ups so staying calm can help keep your tinnitus under control.
- Find a way to cover up the sound: Sometimes, employing a white noise device (including 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).
- Wear earplugs (or earmuffs): The next step, if you can’t avoid loud situations, is to wear ear protection. (And, really, whether you have tinnitus or not, you need to use hearing protection.)
To be certain, if you have permanent tinnitus, none of these techniques will get rid of your tinnitus. But it can be just as important to control and diminish your symptoms.
When Will Your Tinnitus Disappear?
In most scenarios, though, your tinnitus will subside without you needing to do anything about it. Your hearing should return to normal within 16 to 48 hours. However, you will want to find a solution if your tinnitus persists. Finding 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 get your hearing examined.