You just can’t escape from that ringing in your ears. It’s been over two days and you can still hear that nagging ringing in your ears. You’re aware that the buzzing is tinnitus but your beginning to be concerned about how long it will continue.
Tinnitus can be brought about by injury to the stereocilia in your ears (the air oscillations that your ears convert into sound, are sensed by these tiny hairs). That damage is usually the outcome of overly loud noise. That’s why when you’re sitting near a booming jet engine, eating at a loud restaurant, or attending a concert, you notice tinnitus the most.
Under Typical Circumstances, How Long Does Tinnitus Last?
There isn’t any cure for tinnitus. But that doesn’t mean it’ll never go away. There will be a large number of factors that will influence how long your tinnitus will last, like the primary cause of your tinnitus and your overall hearing health.
But if you notice your ears ringing after a noisy day of traveling, you can generally expect your tinnitus to disappear in a day or two. Normally, tinnitus will persist for 16 to 48 hours. But it’s also not unusual for symptoms to linger, sometimes for as long as a couple of weeks. And tinnitus will return if you are exposed to loud noise again.
If tinnitus persists and is affecting your quality of life, you need to consult a specialist.
What Leads to Irreversible Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is normally short-lived. But occasionally it can be irreversible. Specifically when the cause of tinnitus is something out of the ordinary either in terms of origin or in terms of severity. Some examples are as follows:
- Hearing loss: Tinnitus and hearing loss frequently go hand in hand. So, no matter what causes your hearing loss, you might also find yourself developing (or noticing) permanent tinnitus alongside it.
- Repeated exposure: After one rock show, your ears will ring for a couple of days but repeated exposure will result in far worse consequences. Continued exposure to loud noises can result in permanent hearing injury, including tinnitus.
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): The brain is where most sound is processed. When those processors start to misfire, because of traumatic brain trauma, tinnitus can be the result.
Permanent tinnitus is significantly less common than its more short-term counterpart. But there are still millions of Us citizens every year who are treated for lasting, or chronic, tinnitus symptoms.
How Can You Get Your Tinnitus to Subside?
Whether your tinnitus is short term or long term, you may want to find relief as soon as possible. Although there’s no cure for tinnitus, there are certain things you can do to reduce symptoms (however long they might last):
- Use earplugs (or earmuffs): The next option, if you can’t keep away from loud situations, is to wear hearing protection. (And, really, you should be protecting your hearing whether you have tinnitus or not.)
- Find a way to mask the sound: You can in some cases mask the sound and get a restful nights sleep by utilizing some source of white noise such as a fan or humidifier.
- Steer clear of loud noises. Going to another concert, hopping on another plane, or cranking up the volume on your earpods another notch could prolong your symptoms or increase their severity.
- Try to keep calm: Maybe it sounds a little… abstract, but keeping calm can really help keep your tinnitus under control, mostly because increased blood flow can induce tinnitus flare-ups.
To be certain, if you have long-term tinnitus, none of these strategies will cure your tinnitus. But it can be just as important to manage and reduce your symptoms.
When Will Your Tinnitus go Away?
In the majority of circumstances, though, your tinnitus will subside without you needing to do anything about it. Just wait the 16-48 hours and your hearing should go back to normal. However, you will want to look for a solution if your tinnitus lingers. The sooner you find a treatment that works, the sooner you can experience relief. If you think you have hearing loss (which is often associated with tinnitus) you should get your hearing tested.
