You just can’t get away from that ringing in your ears. It’s been more than two days and you can still hear that nagging ringing in your ears. you realize that the ringing is tinnitus but your starting to worry about how long it will last.
Tinnitus can be brought about by injury to the stereocilia inside of your ears (the air oscillations that your ears turn into sound, are sensed by these little hairs). Normally, too much overly loud sound is the cause. That’s why you observe tinnitus most commonly after, as an example, going to a concert, eating at a noisy restaurant, or being seated near a roaring jet engine while you’re traveling.
Under Normal Circumstances, How Long Will Tinnitus Persist?
There isn’t any cure for tinnitus. But tinnitus usually doesn’t last indefinitely. There will be a large number of factors that will influence how long your tinnitus will stick around, including your overall health and the root cause of your tinnitus.
But if you find your ears buzzing after a noisy day of traveling, a couple of days should be sufficient for you to observe your tinnitus fading away. 16 to 48 hours on average is how long tinnitus will last. But sometimes, symptoms can last as long as two weeks. Further exposure to loud noises could also cause tinnitus to flare up again, essentially resetting the clock.
It’s usually suggested that you see a specialist if your tinnitus persists and specifically if your tinnitus is impacting from your quality of life.
Why is Tinnitus Sometimes Irreversible?
Tinnitus is usually temporary. But occasionally it can be long-lasting. When the root cause is not ordinary that’s particularly true either in terms of origin or in terms of intensity. Some examples are as follows:
- Hearing Impairment: Typically, hearing loss and tinnitus are joined at the hip. So you may end up with permanent tinnitus no matter what the cause of your hearing loss.
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): Most of the processing of sound occurs in the brain. When those processors start to misfire, due to traumatic brain injury, tinnitus can be the outcome.
- Repeated exposure: After one rock concert, your ears will ring for a couple of days but frequent subjection will result in far more serious consequences. Continued exposure to loud sounds can lead to permanent hearing damage, including tinnitus.
Short term tinnitus is far more common than permanent tinnitus. But permanent or chronic tinnitus still impacts millions of Americans every year.
How do You Get Your Tinnitus to Subside?
You will want to find relief as soon as possible regardless of whether your tinnitus is permanent or temporary. Although there’s no cure for tinnitus, there are some things you can do to reduce symptoms (however long they might last):
- Stay away from loud noises. Your symptoms may be prolonged or might become more intense if you keep exposing yourself to loud noises such as a jet engine or rock concerts.
- Use earplugs (or earmuffs): The next step, if you can’t avoid loud situations, is to wear hearing protection. (And, really, whether you suffer from tinnitus or not, you should wear hearing protection.)
- Find a way to mask the sound: Sometimes, employing a white noise machine (including a fan or humidifier) can help you cover up the noise of tinnitus and, thus, ignore the symptoms (and, you know, get a restful night’s sleep in the process).
- Try to stay calm: perhaps it sounds a little… abstract, but increased blood pressure can lead to tinnitus flare ups so keeping calm can help keep your tinnitus under control.
Unfortunately, none of these practices will cure long term tinnitus. But reducing and controlling your symptoms can be just as significant.
How Long Before Your Tinnitus Subsides?
In most circumstances, though, your tinnitus will go away without you needing to do anything about it. Your hearing should return to normal within 16 to 48 hours. Nevertheless, if your tinnitus persists, you’ll want to seek out a solution. Discovering a workable treatment is the best way to finally get some relief. Get your hearing examined if you think you have hearing loss or tinnitus.