Tinnitus: Ringing in the Ears and What Helps
Tinnitus is sound with no outside source: ringing, buzzing, hissing or roaring that only you can hear. It is common, it usually travels with hearing loss, and there are proven ways to make it bother you less.
What is tinnitus?
Tinnitus is the perception of sound that has no external source, so other people cannot hear it. Most people describe ringing, but buzzing, roaring, hissing, clicking or humming are common too. The NIDCD estimates that 10 to 25 percent of adults experience it, and children can too. It is a symptom, not a disease, and for most people it is linked to hearing loss: the brain turns up its own gain to compensate for sound it is no longer receiving.
Common causes
- Noise exposure at work, at concerts, from firearms or during military service.
- Age-related or noise-induced hearing loss.
- Medications, including some NSAIDs, antibiotics and cancer drugs.
- Earwax blockage or ear infections.
- Head or neck injuries.
- Less often: Meniere's disease, jaw (TMJ) problems, blood vessel conditions, tumors or other chronic illness.
Source: NIDCD: Tinnitus
When to see a doctor
Start with your primary care doctor, who can check for treatable causes such as earwax or an infection and review your medications, then refer you to an ENT or audiologist. Seek care promptly, within days, if tinnitus starts suddenly, is in one ear only, pulses in time with your heartbeat, or comes with sudden hearing loss, dizziness, facial weakness or a head injury. Sudden hearing loss is a medical emergency that is most treatable in the first days.
An audiologist will test your hearing, because treating the hearing loss is the most effective single step for most people with tinnitus. Florida audiologists are licensed by the Department of Health and you can verify any license online.
How to find and check a Florida hearing professional · ATA: Find a health care provider
What helps: tinnitus management
There is no cure that switches tinnitus off, but there are treatments that reliably reduce how loud it seems and how much it intrudes on sleep, concentration and mood. The NIDCD groups them as sound-based and behavioral, and most people do best with a combination.
- Hearing aids: restoring the sounds you were missing often makes tinnitus fade into the background. Many hearing aids include built-in tinnitus sound programs.
- Sound therapy: sound generators, smartphone apps, fans or wearable devices that add gentle sound so the tinnitus is less noticeable, especially at night.
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): counseling that changes how you react to the sound; it is the best-supported approach for distress and sleep problems.
- Tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT): counseling plus sound therapy aimed at habituation over months.
- Medication: nothing cures tinnitus, but a doctor may treat anxiety, depression or insomnia that tinnitus makes worse.
- Protect what you have: use hearing protection around loud sound, and ask your doctor about ototoxic drugs.
Sources: NIDCD: Tinnitus · ATA: Why are my ears ringing?
Support for tinnitus in Florida
The American Tinnitus Association (ATA) is the national nonprofit for tinnitus, with a helpline at (800) 634-8978, peer telephone support, a support group locator and a provider directory. Because most people with tinnitus also have hearing loss, HLAA-FL chapter meetings are a good place to compare notes on hearing aids with tinnitus programs and on audiologists who take the condition seriously.
ATA: Find a tinnitus support group · HLAA-FL chapters · Mental health and hearing loss
Tinnitus questions
Is tinnitus in the brain or in the ear?
Both. Damage to the inner ear, most often from noise or aging, reduces the signal reaching the brain, and the brain's hearing centers respond by increasing their own activity. That activity is perceived as ringing or buzzing. This is why treatments that give the brain more real sound, such as hearing aids and sound therapy, and treatments that change the brain's reaction, such as CBT, help.
Can hearing aids help tinnitus?
For many people, yes. Most tinnitus comes with hearing loss, and hearing aids restore the sounds the brain was missing, which often makes the tinnitus less noticeable. Many hearing aids also include built-in tinnitus sound programs your audiologist can adjust. Ask for a hearing test first; treating the hearing loss is the most effective single step for most people.
When is tinnitus an emergency?
See a doctor within days if tinnitus starts suddenly, is in only one ear, pulses with your heartbeat, or comes with sudden hearing loss, dizziness, facial weakness or a head injury. Sudden hearing loss in particular is most treatable in the first days. Otherwise, start with your primary care doctor, who can check for earwax, infection or medication causes.
Is there a cure for tinnitus?
No medication or procedure switches tinnitus off, and you should be wary of products that promise a cure. What works is management: hearing aids, sound therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy and tinnitus retraining therapy reduce how loud it seems and how much it interferes with sleep and concentration. Most people who use these tools report that tinnitus fades into the background over time.
You are not the only one hearing it
Talk with other Floridians who manage tinnitus and hearing loss at a free, captioned chapter meeting.