You could have a typical reaction when you first hear that ringing in your ears: pretend that it’s no big thing. You set about your normal habits: you do your grocery shopping, you cook dinner, you try to have a conversation with your friends. All the while, you’re trying to force that ringing in your ear to the back of your mind. Because there is one thing you feel certain of: your tinnitus will go away on its own.
You start to get concerned, though, when after a couple of days the ringing and buzzing is unrelenting.
You’re not the only person to ever be in this position. sometimes tinnitus will go away by itself, and other times it will linger on and that’s the reason why it’s a challenging little disorder.
The Condition of Temporary Tinnitus
Tinnitus is incredibly common everywhere, almost everyone’s had a bout here and there. Tinnitus is a non-permanent condition, in most cases, and will eventually vanish by itself. A rock concert is an excellent illustration: you go to your local arena to see your favorite band and you notice, when you get back home, that there is a ringing in your ears.
Within a couple of days the type of tinnitus connected to damage from loud noise will usually fade away (but you accept that it’s simply part of going to a loud performance).
Naturally, it’s precisely this kind of noise damage that, over time, can cause loss of hearing to move from temporary (or acute, as they say) to chronic. One concert too many and you could be waiting quite a while for your tinnitus to recede on its own.
When Tinnitus Doesn’t Seem to be Disappearing on its own
If your tinnitus persists for over three months it’s then identified as chronic tinnitus (but you should have it checked by a specialist long before that).
Something like 5-15% of people around the world have recorded signs of chronic tinnitus. While there are some known close associations (like hearing loss, for example), the causes of tinnitus aren’t yet very well understood.
Often, a fast cure for tinnitus will be elusive if the triggers aren’t evident. There is a strong possibility that your tinnitus won’t disappear on its own if you have been hearing the ringing for more than three months. In those cases, there are treatment possibilities available (such as cognitive behavioral therapy or noise-canceling devices) that can help you deal with symptoms and maintain your quality of life.
It’s Significant to Know What The Cause of Your Tinnitus is
It becomes a lot easier to reduce the symptoms of tinnitus when you can identify the underlying causes. If a bacterial ear infection is, for instance, the cause of your tinnitus, you can revive a healthy ear and clear hearing by managing it with antibiotics.
Some causes of acute tinnitus could include:
- Damage to the eardrum (such as a perforated eardrum)
- A blockage in the ear or ear canal
- Chronic ear infections
- Loss of hearing (again, this is often associated with chronic tinnitus)
- Meniere’s disease (this usually has no cure and is often associated with chronic tinnitus)
The Big Question…Will my Tinnitus Ever Subside?
The truth is that in almost all cases, yes, your tinnitus will go away on its own. But the longer it lingers, the longer you hear reverberations or humming or whatever the sound happens to be, the more likely it becomes that you’re experiencing chronic tinnitus.
You can persuade yourself that everything is fine and hope that the noises will simply stop. But there may come a point where your tinnitus begins to become irritating, where it’s hard to focus because the sound is too disruptive. In those circumstances, wishful thinking may not be the comprehensive treatment plan you require.
In most instances, though, as a matter of fact, throughout most of your life, your tinnitus will often subside by itself, a typical response to a loud environment (and your body’s way of letting you know to stay away from that situation from now on). Only time will tell if your tinnitus is acute or chronic.
