You just can’t escape from that ringing in your ears. That high pitched buzz in your ear has been nagging you ever since yesterday morning and it still hasn’t gone away. You’re aware that the buzzing is tinnitus but your beginning to be concerned about how long it will keep going.
Tinnitus can be brought on by damage to the stereocilia inside your ears (the air oscillations that your ears turn into sound, are sensed by these little hairs). Usually, too much overly loud noise is the cause. That’s why when you’re sitting next to a roaring jet engine, or out at a loud restaurant, or attending a concert, you notice tinnitus the most.
How Long Does Tinnitus Persist on Average?
Tinnitus can’t be cured. But tinnitus usually doesn’t last forever. There will be a large number of factors that will determine how long your tinnitus will stick around, like your general health and the root cause of your tinnitus.
But if you notice your ears buzzing after a noisy day of traveling, you can usually expect your tinnitus to fade away in a day or two. 16 to 48 hours typically is how long tinnitus will persist. But in some cases, symptoms can last as long 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 persists and specifically if your tinnitus is detracting from your quality of life.
Why is Tinnitus Sometimes Permanent?
Tinnitus is normally impermanent. But that means it can be irreversible. When the cause is not mundane that’s particularly true When it comes to degree and origin. Some illustrations are as follows:
- Traumatic Brain Trauma (TBI): The brain is where the majority of sound is processed. When those processors begin to misfire, due to traumatic brain injury, tinnitus can be the result.
- Repeated exposure: If your ears are buzzing after one rock concert, think of how they’ll feel after five rock concerts a week or if you’re a musician who plays live shows and practices all day. Frequent exposure to loud noises can cause irreversible hearing injury, tinnitus included.
- Hearing loss: Tinnitus and hearing loss often go hand in hand. So, no matter what causes your hearing loss, you may also end up developing (or noticing) permanent tinnitus alongside it.
Permanent tinnitus is substantially less common than its more short-term counterpart. But there are still millions of Americans each 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 quickly as possible. There isn’t a cure for tinnitus but you can do some things to reduce the symptoms (however long they may endure):
- Avoid loud noises. Your symptoms might be extended or may become more severe if you continue to expose yourself to loud noises such as a jet engine or rock concerts.
- Wear earplugs (or earmuffs): If you cannot avoid loud environments, then protecting 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 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 such as a humidifier or fan.
- Try to keep calm: Maybe it sounds somewhat… abstract, but higher blood pressure can bring about tinnitus episodes so remaining calm can help keep your tinnitus in check.
To be sure, if you have long-term tinnitus, none of these techniques will cure your tinnitus. But decreasing and controlling your symptoms can be equally important.
How Long Before Your Tinnitus Subsides?
In most scenarios, though, your tinnitus will go away without you needing to do anything about it. Just wait the 16-48 hours and your hearing should return to normal. However, if your tinnitus persists, you’ll want to seek out a solution. The sooner you find a treatment that works, the sooner you can get relief. Get your hearing tested if you think you have tinnitus or hearing loss.