Do We Perceive Our Tinnitus Spikes to Last Longer Than They Actually Do?

Like most of you, I experience temporary spikes in my tinnitus from time to time. It seems like each of these spikes lasts a week or two.

What I'm wondering is whether we perceive our spikes to last longer than they actually do. For example, consider this chain of events:

1. Tinnitus is at a baseline level, which we are used to
2. Tinnitus spikes up, and is super annoying
3. Tinnitus settles back down to baseline

For me, when 2 happens, I am aware of my tinnitus constantly. But this goes two ways: the tinnitus is louder and so it naturally annoys me more, but also, my brain is now more focused on the tinnitus than it used to be. That is to say, I am just thinking about it more.

I wonder if, after our tinnitus settles back to baseline in 3, the "thinking about it more" from 2 still remains for a while. And so even after we're back to baseline, we continue to feel like we're "on a spike" because it just takes time to stop thinking about tinnitus.

Based on your experiences, does this sound plausible to you? If it does, it may mean we have some control over how long we "continue to think we're on spike even after we're not." And perhaps this could be helpful.