You just can’t get away from that ringing in your ears. It’s been over two days and you can still hear that nagging buzzing in your ears. You’re aware that the ringing is tinnitus but your starting to be concerned about how long it will keep going.
Tinnitus can be brought on by damage to the stereocilia in your ears (they’re the very small hairs that pick up air vibrations that your brain then transforms into intelligible sound). That damage is typically the outcome of excessively loud noise. That’s why when you’re seated near a booming jet engine, or out at a noisy restaurant, or attending a concert, you notice tinnitus the most.
How Long Does Tinnitus Persist on Average?
There’s no cure for tinnitus. But that doesn’t mean it’ll never go away. There will be a wide variety of factors that will establish how long your tinnitus will last, such as the underlying cause of your tinnitus and your overall hearing health.
But if you just returned home from a noisy day of traveling and you find your ears ringing, a couple of days should be sufficient for you to notice your tinnitus fading away. Typically, tinnitus will persist for 16 to 48 hours. But in some cases, symptoms can last as much as a couple of weeks. Further exposure to loud sounds could also cause tinnitus to flare up again, effectively resetting the clock.
It’s typically suggested that you consult a specialist if your tinnitus continues and particularly if your tinnitus is detracting from your quality of life.
Why is Tinnitus Sometimes Irreversible?
Tinnitus is normally short-lived. But occasionally it can be long-lasting. When the root cause is not ordinary that’s particularly true When it comes to degree and origin. Here are a few examples:
- Hearing loss: Tinnitus and hearing loss often go together. So you might end up with irreversible tinnitus regardless of the cause of your hearing loss.
- Traumatic Brain Trauma (TBI): The brain is where most sound is processed. When those processors start to misfire, due to traumatic brain injury, tinnitus can be the outcome.
- 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. Frequent exposure to loud noises can lead to permanent hearing damage, tinnitus included.
Permanent tinnitus is substantially less common than its more temporary counterpart. But there are still millions of Us citizens each year who are treated for lasting, or chronic, tinnitus symptoms.
How do You Get Your Tinnitus to go Away?
It doesn’t matter if your tinnitus is short lived or long lived, you may want to get relief as soon as you can. There isn’t a cure for tinnitus but you can do some things to minimize the symptoms (though they may last only so long):
- Try to stay calm: Maybe it sounds a little… abstract, but remaining calm can really help keep your tinnitus in check, mostly because increases in blood pressure can induce tinnitus flare-ups.
- Wear earplugs (or earmuffs): If you can’t avoid loud situations, then safeguarding your hearing is the next best step. (And, really, whether you suffer from tinnitus or not, you need to use hearing protection.)
- Find a way to mask the sound: You can in some cases drown out the sound and get a restful nights sleep by using some source of white noise such as a fan or humidifier.
- Avoid loud noises. Your symptoms could be prolonged or may become more severe if you keep exposing yourself to loud noises like rock concerts or a jet engine.
To be certain, if you have permanent tinnitus, none of these strategies will get rid of your tinnitus. But it can be just as important to manage and reduce your symptoms.
When Will Your Tinnitus Disappear?
In most 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, if your tinnitus persists, you’ll want to find a solution. The sooner you find a treatment that is effective, the sooner you can experience relief. Get your hearing tested if you think you have hearing loss or tinnitus.