Does tinnitus go away?


Does tinnitus go away?
10 min.
Publication Date: 19 June 2021
Have you ever experienced ringing in your ears before? If the answer is yes, you can easily imagine how awkward and annoying the sensation can be. The first time it happens, you probably try to ignore the buzzing sound coming from deep inside your ear canal and carry on with the rest of your day. Trouble starts when you cannot ignore the noises in your head any longer despite your best effort. This is the point when you begin an internal dialogue, trying to convince yourself that there is no cause for concern. After all, tinnitus does not stay forever and usually goes away on its own. But as days go by and the loud noises, buzzing sounds relentlessly stick around, you begin to worry and doubt that the ringing will ever stop.
How common is tinnitus?

When does tinnitus go away on its own?
While tinnitus can sometimes linger around for a long time, it resolves on its own most of the time. In fact, in the overwhelming majority of cases, the condition is merely a temporary phenomenon and goes away by itself. One such example is noise-induced hearing loss. Let's say you attend a concert, and after leaving, you realise that your ear is ringing. This type of ringing in the ear is due to temporary damage caused by the loud noise and is likely to subside over a few days. However, don't think that exposing your hearing to extreme noise levels will have no negative consequences. On the contrary, noise-induced hearing loss can become chronic over time.When does tinnitus linger?
It can be very troubling when your tinnitus lingers for weeks and months at a time. If your tinnitus lasts longer than three months, your doctor will classify it as chronic. Although having constant ringing and buzzing in your ears is very annoying, the noise is usually mild enough, and people can learn to live with it. However, in other cases, the noise is so loud that living with the condition takes a severe toll on the person's quality of life. The sounds can be so debilitating that the sufferers live under constant stress, lose the ability to concentrate or even sleep.What causes tinnitus?
Exposure to loud noise: One of the most common causes of tinnitus is exposure to some loud sound that harms the sensory cells of the cochlea in the inner ear. One way this damage can occur is by spending an extensive amount of time in noisy environments. Imagine being seated near a roaring jet engine on an airplane for several hours, or even worse, going to a rock concert and standing near the stage right next to the speaker. Acoustic trauma is another way to sustain damage to your ear. Acoustic trauma is an injury to your inner ear caused by high-decibel sounds.Such damage can occur after a brief exposure to extremely loud noise or repeated exposure to noises over a longer time. An explosion is a perfect example of how one could suffer acoustic trauma. Consider wearing some type of hearing protection, such as protective earplugs or earmuffs to reduce your risk of ear damage whenever you think you will be in an environment that may expose you to deafening noises.
A ruptured eardrum (tympanic membrane perforation) is generally a tear in the thin tissue separating the ear canal from the middle ear. Complications of a ruptured eardrum are hearing impairment and an increased vulnerability to middle ear infections. Both infections and hearing loss increase your risk of developing ringing ears.
How to make tinnitus go away?
Without knowing the cause of your tinnitus symptoms, finding the most appropriate treatment is a difficult task. Once you know what you are dealing with, alleviating the condition becomes much easier. Depending on the reason, you have different treatment options. Some people find relief with cognitive behavioral therapy, noise-canceling devices, or hearing aids.
These options can help manage symptoms and maintain your quality of life. If the root of your problems is otosclerosis, surgery may be the best option to return to hearing normal.
Despite the high success rate, many patients decide against surgery, but most will use hearing aids. Suppose your symptoms are a result of a painful ear infection. In that case, your doctor may prescribe treatment with an antibiotic to solve both problems.When will the ringing in my ear go away?
It is difficult to say when the ringing will stop in your specific case. Thankfully, in the overwhelming majority of cases, your tinnitus symptoms will go away on their own. But the longer the problem lingers, the more likely it is that you're dealing with a chronic issue. Even in this scenario, the ringing may suddenly stop without treatment, although it is less likely to happen this way. In any case, it is best to get your ears checked, especially if the sound and noise in your ear become too disrupting.