You could have a common reaction when you first notice that ringing in your ears: pretend everything’s fine. You go through your day the same as usual: you do your grocery shopping, you make dinner, you attempt to have a conversation with your friends. While at the same time you try your hardest to dismiss that ringing. Because there is one thing you feel certain about: your tinnitus will fade away on its own.
You start to get concerned, however, when after a couple of days the ringing and buzzing is unrelenting.
This scenario happens to others as well. At times tinnitus will go away by itself, and other times it will stick around and that’s why it’s a challenging little disorder.
When Tinnitus is Likely to Go Away on Its Own
Tinnitus is incredibly common around the world, almost everybody’s had a bout here and there. In virtually all cases, tinnitus is basically temporary and will eventually subside on its own. A rock concert is a good example: you go to your local stadium to see your favorite band and you discover, when you get home, that there is a ringing in your ears.
The kind of tinnitus that is linked to temporary damage from loud noise will normally diminish within a couple of days (and you chalk it up to the price of seeing your favorite band on stage).
Of course, 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. Too many of those types of concerts and you may end up with permanent tinnitus.
sometimes, Tinnitus Doesn’t Simply go Away
If your tinnitus lingers for over three months it’s then classified as chronic tinnitus (but you should have it examined by an expert long before that).
Around 5-15% of individuals around the world have reported signs of chronic tinnitus. While there are some understood close connections (such as loss of hearing, as an example), the causes of tinnitus aren’t yet really comprehended.
Often, a fast cure for tinnitus will be elusive if the triggers aren’t evident. There is a good chance that your tinnitus won’t go away by itself if you have been hearing the ringing for more than three months. But if this is your circumstance, you can maintain your quality of life and deal with your symptoms with some treatment options (like noise canceling devices and cognitive behavioral therapy).
It’s Important to Know What The Cause of Your Tinnitus is
It becomes much easier to decrease the symptoms of tinnitus when you are able to recognize the root causes. If a bacterial ear infection is, for instance, the cause of your tinnitus, you can revive a healthy ear and clear hearing by treating it with antibiotics.
Some causes of acute tinnitus could include:
- Eardrum damage (such as a perforated eardrum)
- Chronic ear infections
- Meniere’s disease (this is often associated with chronic tinnitus, as Meniere’s has no cure)
- A blockage in the ear or ear canal
- Loss of hearing (again, this is often associated with chronic tinnitus)
So…Will The Buzzing in My Ears Subside?
The bottom line is that in most cases, yes, your tinnitus will go away on its own. But the longer it lingers, the longer you hear tinnitus noises, the more likely it becomes that you’re coping with chronic tinnitus.
You can convince yourself that everything is fine and hope that the buzzing will just stop. But at some point, your tinnitus might become uncomfortable and it might become difficult to focus on anything else. In those situations, crossing your fingers might not be the extensive treatment plan you need.
In most cases, however, as a matter of fact, throughout most of your life, your tinnitus will normally go away by itself, a typical response to a noisy environment (and your body’s means of telling you to avoid that environment from now on). Whether that’s chronic or acute tinnitus, well, we’ll only know over time.