You just can’t get away from that ringing in your ears. It’s been over two days and you can still hear that irritating buzzing in your ears. you realize that the buzzing is tinnitus but your starting to be concerned about how long it will continue.
Tinnitus can be brought on by injury to the stereocilia inside of your ears (the air oscillations that your ears turn into sound, are sensed by these little hairs). That damage is most often the outcome of overly loud noise. That’s why when you’re sitting next to a booming jet engine, or out at a loud restaurant, or going to a concert, you notice tinnitus the most.
Under Typical Scenarios, How Long Does Tinnitus Last?
Tinnitus can’t be cured. But that doesn’t mean it’ll never subside. There will be a large number of factors that will determine how long your tinnitus will stick around, including your general health and the underlying cause of your tinnitus.
But if you just arrived home from a noisy day of traveling and you notice your ears buzzing, you can normally expect your tinnitus to go away in a day or two. 16 to 48 hours on average is how long tinnitus will persist. But it’s also not uncommon for symptoms to stick around, often for as much as two weeks. And tinnitus will come back if you are exposed to loud noise again.
It’s typically suggested that you see a specialist if your tinnitus persists and particularly if your tinnitus is impacting from your quality of life.
Why is Tinnitus Sometimes Irreversible?
In most cases, tinnitus is short-lived. But that means it can be long lasting. Especially when the cause of tinnitus is something outside the mundane When it comes to degree and origin. Here are a few examples:
- Repeated exposure: After one rock concert, your ears will probably ring for a couple of days but frequent exposure will lead to far more serious consequences. Repeated exposure to loud noises can lead to permanent hearing damage, including tinnitus.
- Traumatic Brain Trauma (TBI): The brain is where the majority of sound is processed. In certain cases, a serious brain injury (such as a concussion) might cause tinnitus because those processors begin to misfire.
- Hearing Impairment: Tinnitus and hearing loss often go together. So you could end up with irreversible tinnitus regardless of the cause of your hearing loss.
Short term tinnitus is a lot more common than permanent tinnitus. But there are still millions of Us citizens every year who are treated for permanent, or chronic, tinnitus symptoms.
How do You Get Your Tinnitus to Subside?
It doesn’t matter if your tinnitus is short lived or long lived, you may want to find relief as soon as possible. There is no cure for tinnitus but you can do certain things to reduce the symptoms (though they may last only so long):
- Try to keep calm: Maybe it sounds a little… abstract, but remaining calm can really help keep your tinnitus in check, mostly because increased blood pressure can trigger tinnitus flare-ups.
- Wear earplugs (or earmuffs): The next step, if you can’t steer clear of loud situations, is to wear ear protection. (And, really, you should be protecting your hearing even if you don’t have tinnitus.)
- Steer clear of loud noises. Your symptoms may be extended or might become more intense if you continue to expose yourself to loud noises like a jet engine or rock concerts.
- Find a way to mask the sound: In some cases, using a white noise machine (such as a fan or humidifier) can help you mask the noise of tinnitus and, thus, ignore the symptoms (and, you know, get a good night’s sleep in the process).
To be certain, if you have long-term tinnitus, none of these techniques will cure your tinnitus. But reducing and controlling your symptoms can be equally important.
When Will Your Tinnitus Subside?
In most cases, though, your tinnitus will go away without you having to do anything about it. Just wait the 16-48 hours and your hearing should return to normal. However, you will want to find a solution if your tinnitus lingers. Finding a workable treatment is the best way to finally get some relief. If you think you have hearing loss (which is commonly associated with tinnitus) you should have your hearing examined.
