You just can’t escape from that ringing in your ears. It’s been more than two days and you can still hear that unpleasant buzzing in your ears. You realize the sound is tinnitus, but you’re beginning to wonder just how permanent tinnitus usually is.
Tinnitus can be brought about by damage to the stereocilia inside your ears (the air oscillations which your ears convert into sound, are sensed by these little hairs). That damage is typically the result of overly loud sound. That’s why you observe tinnitus most commonly after, as an example, going to a concert, eating at a loud restaurant, or sitting next to a deafening jet engine while you’re taking a trip.
Under Normal Circumstances, How Long Will Tinnitus Persist?
Tinnitus can’t be cured. But tinnitus usually doesn’t continue forever. There will be a large number of factors that will establish how long your tinnitus will stick around, including the primary cause of your tinnitus and your general hearing health.
But if you just returned home from a noisy day of traveling and you find your ears buzzing, a couple of days should be enough for you to notice your tinnitus fading away. On average, tinnitus will persist for 16 to 48 hours. But sometimes, symptoms can last as much as two weeks. And tinnitus will come back if you are exposed to loud sound again.
It’s generally recommended that you see a specialist if your tinnitus continues and especially if your tinnitus is detracting from your quality of life.
Why is Tinnitus Sometimes Irreversible?
Usually, tinnitus is temporary. But sometimes it can be permanent. When the root cause is not ordinary that’s particularly true When it comes to intensity and origin. Here are several examples:
- Traumatic Brain Trauma (TBI): The brain is where the majority of sound is processed. When those processors begin to misfire, because of traumatic brain injury, tinnitus can be the result.
- Hearing loss: In many cases, hearing loss and tinnitus are joined at the hip. So, whatever the cause of your hearing loss is, you could also wind up developing (or noticing) irreversible tinnitus along with it.
- Repeated exposure: If your ears are buzzing after one rock concert, imagine how they’ll feel after five rock concerts a week or if you’re a musician who performs concerts and practices all day. Continued exposure to loud noises can lead to irreversible hearing damage, including tinnitus.
Short term tinnitus is a lot more common than lasting tinnitus. But permanent or chronic tinnitus still effects millions of Americans each year.
How Can You Get Your Tinnitus to Subside?
Whether your tinnitus is short term or long lived, you will want to find relief as soon as you can. Even though there’s no cure for tinnitus, there are a few things you can do to lessen symptoms (though they may last only so long):
- Find a way to cover up the sound: You can in some cases mask the sound and get a good nights sleep by utilizing some source of white noise including a humidifier or fan.
- Try to keep calm: Maybe it sounds a little… abstract, but increased blood pressure can bring about tinnitus flare ups so keeping calm can help keep your tinnitus at bay.
- Use earplugs (or earmuffs): If you cannot avoid loud environments, then safeguarding your hearing is the next best option. (And, really, whether you suffer from tinnitus or not, you need to wear hearing protection.)
- Stay away from loud noises. Your symptoms may be prolonged or might become more intense if you continue to expose yourself to loud noises like rock concerts or a jet engine.
Unfortunately, none of these tactics will cure permanent tinnitus. But diminishing and controlling your symptoms can be just as important.
How Long Before Your Tinnitus Subsides?
Your tinnitus, in the majority of circumstances, will subside by itself. Your hearing should return to normal within 16 to 48 hours. However, you will want to find a solution if your tinnitus lingers. The sooner you discover a treatment that works, the sooner you can get relief. If you think you have hearing loss (which is frequently associated with tinnitus) you should have your hearing checked.