Does Most Acoustic Trauma Induced Tinnitus Go Away by 6 Months?

Hi all,

Title pretty much asks my question. I'm just over 5 weeks of acoustic trauma induced tinnitus (with no hearing loss) and the ENT said 90% of individuals get better by 6 months. He really couldn't answer any other question that I had such as the mechanism in which tinnitus with no hearing loss works, etc, but did say that individuals without hearing loss recover faster than those with hearing loss.

Having only been on this forum for a short time, it seems like an excellent support network and compilation of helpful resources. Many of the posts however mention individuals having tinnitus for much longer than 6 months. Is this just sample bias (i.e. - the only people to leave reviews have a problem with the product), or is the ENTs 90% figure an optimistic gesture?

Thank you all in advance.

 

It is hard to generalize, and the 6 month timeline is optimistic. Mine took about 18 months to get better, but three years out it is not totally gone. It also would depend on the cause of the tinnitus, and the severity.

 

Thank you for your reply! Mine is from acoustic trauma (went to sleep with Bose Sleepbuds II and I guess the volume was too loud).

Would you by chance know if aural fullness follows the same timeline? The ringing is one thing, but the pressure is worse.

 

I know several people with noice induced tinnitus, both family and colleagues. Some got it directly from a concert, and some got it from working in a very noisy environment with no protection. Very common back in the days.

None of them has had their tinnitus disappear. Not for a single second. But for some it has become less impactful on their life.

I hope to be in the same place one day, where it does not bother me that much

My audiologist, with whom I have been having conversations about tinnitus and my mental health, said she never heard it had disappeared for any of her patients... Not so nice to hear.

But I truly wish you a nice recovery with this terrible thing

 

Hi, I had an acoustic trauma 6 months ago and I have tinnitus and hyperacusis. I think the hyperacusis is slowly getting better.

Initially, I could not handle sounds first thing in the morning and it was difficult to get my child ready for school.

Today, it was easy and although the tinnitus was going, it was not difficult. I have a few other factors at play, so it may make my healing slower. I also am recovering from a double ear infection.

I wish you health and healing!

twa

 

"Yes" in the sense that waking up with your ears ringing the day after a concert and then having that fade over 24-96 hours is a thing that's happened at some point to almost everyone I know who's gone to a lot of concerts, and most of them did not go on to develop chronic tinnitus, at least not based on that one event.

The longer it sticks around the worse the odds of it going away completely. On the other hand, globally, hundreds of millions of people have some minor degree of tinnitus that barely bothers them, some fewer amount have tinnitus that they find somewhat annoying, some fewer amount have more intrusive tinnitus that moves from "annoying" to something else entirely. So, it's a pyramid of suffering and bullshit but even if you find yourself somewhere in that pyramid, the odds are still quite good you're dealing with something you can live with fairly happily.

I also have a couple friends with what sounds like pretty loud, constant, multitone, bilateral tinnitus who report that it almost never bothers them at all, but, if they're tilting off about something else and are in a super stressful period, then it can become very annoying. Three different friends reported "spikes" to me that were just based on the stress of COVID-19 lockdown, jobs, etc over the past year; all have since told me that stuff backed down. One of these people actually had COVID-19 (and not a super mild case), and I sort of suspect that might have spiked him for a while, but he's back to his normal motorcycle-riding self now (with earplugs, of course).

 

The pressure is the worst part. Tinnitus is a gift in comparison to it

 

Agreed... Do you know if there are any medications or treatments that can help the aural fullness pressure? If tinnitus doesn't always go away, hopefully this does...

 

Depending on the severity of the onset it can take a lot longer than 6 Months but it can and it does get better, I was told it will never go away. That was something I really didn’t need to hear from a doctor. For me following exposure to a very powerful alarm it took the best part of 2 years before it was completely gone and thankfully it is still gone. Be careful with your ears, avoid ear buds and headphones etc in time it will improve.

 

If you woke up like that, the volume was definitely too loud. Toss the earbuds, and never use them again!

The fullness gets better faster than the tinnitus. Be sure to protect and avoid additional noise exposure from any and all sources to avoid reinjury.

 

No. It lasts for a lot longer for most "acoustic trauma" people. But for many of them it mostly fades after 2-3 years.

 

Thank you! Out of curiosity - do you by chance know the mechanism that causes aural fullness / pressure from acoustic induced tinnitus?

 

This is my understanding, the aural fullness is inflammation in response to a trauma. I had the same issue with my back injury, pain and swelling in the area of trauma. The physiotherapist told me the goal was to move the inflammation away from the area of trauma so that healing can begin. I had a nerve root injury in my lumbar spine and the sciatic nerve was compressed/damaged. I was told that nerves are very slow to heal and it could take 18 months to heal. It took about a year for the nerve down my leg to heal and to regain feeling in my toes. The ears and auditory system are very protected and with limited blood flow the nerves in the ears are very slow to heal also. I have followed an anti-inflammatory diet strictly for the last 6 months deviating only slightly in the maintenance phase. The aural fullness lessened within 3 months. I still feel slight pressure in my ears, but I also have acquired a double ear infection with strep (courtesy of little people).

Wishing you health & healing,
twa

 

That's your body's way of telling you that it got hurt/damaged. This sensation normally goes away within a year.

 

My tinnitus is pretty manageable except for its reactivity. That is the most annoying thing to me. I also still have pain occasionally around my ear, even after about 9 months. The fullness has certainly gotten better, but I don't know exactly what I should do about it. I'm going to try exercising more, meditation, and white noise therapy (although it is difficult for me to do this all of the time) to see if that helps.
I wonder if my tinnitus will get better or worse over time since I have moderate hearing loss. So far, it has gotten better than it was (I couldn't play music at even super low volumes, and people's voices were distorted. Now it's only my own voice sometimes that's distorted). I guess I'll see after a while. What's a couple of years among friends?

 

I don't know the mechanism for the aural fullness with acoustic trauma. I find it most uncomfortable, and avoid it as much as I can. Hope yours passes soon!

 

Thank you - glad to hear that it goes away even if the tinnitus doesn't!

 

If your tinnitus begins to fade, it ought to continue to fade, and eventually you ought to get to the "can hear it only in quiet rooms" stage.

 

If you don't have any actual hearing loss then maybe. A standard hearing test isnt going to tell you that. I have tinnitus from gunfire and Meniere's disease. It doesn't get much worse than this.

I'm sure you will be fine.

 

Hey, we had the same "type" of onset. In my case the volume was not too loud at all, but I repeated the operation several time and... here I am. Mine did not ease in the past four months; however I have a bit of hearing loss.

 

How did they confirm Meniere's? Are you dizzy? Does Betahistine, diuretics, low salt, no alcohol help... or just steroids? I have heard of acoustic trauma causing hydrops, but it's supposed to be temporary.

 

There is no way to confirm it. I have progressively worsening hearing loss for no reason after the acoustic trauma. In all reality I was exposed to not a lot of gunfire. However, hearing loss along with pressure and fullness pain is still present 1.5 years later. Low and high pitched tinnitus 24/7. I've yet to meet another person with similar issues. No vertigo at all, but random disorientation. All the stuff you mentioned doesn't help.

 

My noise induced tinnitus (no hearing loss) went away completely over the span of about 2 years. I was completely tinnitus free for about 3 years. Then I lost some hearing in my left ear and the tinnitus came back in that ear.

 

Did you actually see meaningful improvement in the second year?

 

It didn’t really happen that way. I spent a fair amount of time over two years doing a lot of masking. And after a while I just got tired of it. And I just slowly and naturally stopped using my masking devices. I stopped turning the sound machines on. I started sleeping without my sound pillow. It’s not like there was a moment that preceded my decrease in masking when I woke up and didn’t hear it. I guess it just stopped bothering me more and then I noticed it was completely gone. I could sit in a quiet room and try to hear it and it wasn’t there, or a quiet car. I could plug my ears and hear nothing.

But it can definitely happen so keep the faith.

 

Happy to hear that it went away, and I am sorry that it came back. Hopefully it is not as bad as before.

 

Thank you. I really appreciate it.

Right now I’m more annoyed by my fluctuating bilateral tinnitus that is a high pitched noxious whine that comes and goes. Starting to notice that seems to have a pattern. A seasonal one. I just posted about it on the support forum. Right now it’s screaming and bothering me way more than my tinnitus in my damaged ear. Hypothesizing there may be an allergy component. Or neck problems.

 

Yes I think you can get rid of it. I also got rid of it.

 

I know a few people with tinnitus and nobody has got rid of it and no doctor has ever told me it can go away.

Yet people do say it has gone away for them so it must be possible, but I think it's not the norm.

If it gets to the stage where you only hear it when it's fairly quiet, you are doing great and the tinnitus should fall down on your list of problems.

 

I agree with you that it is not as easy to get rid of as other things, such as back pain.
However, doctors can only help you to a certain extend as they have only a few minutes to look at you and think about a solution. They furthermore cannot take responsibility for your body and they do not know you as well as you do (hopefully).

When I had a fresh tinnitus in 2008... my ENT (who actually stood out among others) told me not to avoid noise, since the ear needs noise to some extent.

Luckily I didn't trust him at all and kept avoiding noise. This helped a lot.

So as long as ENTs don't know better, please inform patients, don't take time and patients don't take responsibility for themselves it will remain " incurable"...

However, as always, patients can do a lot beyond what the standard public health practitioner can do with pills.

What helped me most was:
-a silent place to sleep
-having earplugs with me, and wearing them wherever it seemed necessary for me
-vitamins (B12) and phospholipids, omega-3, vitamin D, amino acids, vitamin A
-sports (running, cycling)
-Amon Kaiser's laser therapy - it also improved my hearing so much that it is now definitely (measurable) better than before "my incident".

All the best to you all!