Learn all about Tinnitus and treatments by reading our detailed answers to the most frequently asked questions

Many people experience tinnitus after attending a party or concert. While the primary cause is undoubtedly the loud noise, it can potentially be intensified by common factors in those circumstances such as the consumption of alcohol and a fatigued body – especially when it’s late in the night.

Normally the tinnitus will disappear the day after or at the latest within a few days.

If your tinnitus has not disappeared after a couple of weeks, it is strongly advisable to consider seeking help. Our experience shows that the initial period is a ‘window of opportunity,’ where it’s much easier and faster to reduce tinnitus compared to if the condition has persisted for over three months.

In the initial period it’s indeed a balancing act for each individual to determine if the condition has reached a treatment-worthy stage or if it’s better to wait and observe how things unfold.

First of all, the most crucial thing is to protect yourself from noise exposure. Specifically loud noises (high decibels) but also high-frequency noises such as those emitted by computers, dimmers, air conditioners or other electronic sources should be limited.

If you experience a sudden onset of tinnitus, one thing you can do is to take magnesium within the first 24 hours, as it is believed to have a dampening effect. Magnesium is available as a dietary supplement, but it’s also present in most fruits, nuts and vegetables. 

Furthermore, there seems to be a link between tinnitus and zinc insufficiency, as nearly one third of tinnitus patients are deficient in zinc, so supplementing with zinc, or making sure to eat a zinc-rich diet, might be something to consider. When zinc deficient tinnitus-patients get their zinc-balance restored, it is not uncommon to witness a 10% improvement in their tinnitus.

If the tinnitus does not disappear on its own within a couple of weeks, there’s a high risk that it will evolve into a chronic condition. In that case, it’s therefore advisable to consider seeking treatment as soon as possible such as notched music therapy, laser/infrared treatment for the inner ear, or the Lenire treatment concept. Feel free to contact us for guidance on determining the most suitable solution for you and your situation. Often, we will base our advice on a hearing assessment and a measurement of the tinnitus-frequency.

Typically, the tinnitus-condition is easier to relieve in the early stages than if it has persisted over a longer period.

Many people have attempted treating tinnitus with acupuncture, but unfortunately, acupuncture does not offer any lasting effect against tinnitus in our conviction. But acupuncture is often effective in treating various conditions commonly associated with tinnitus, such as dizziness, stress in the autonomic nervous system, and trouble with sleeping. Addressing these associated conditions will often indirectly contribute to a positive effect on tinnitus. However, it cannot be conclusively stated that acupuncture treatment against tinnitus in itself produces convincing or lasting improvement for the patient.

Sleep problems afflict almost half of tinnitus patients. Typically, tinnitus patients find it hard to fall asleep as they lie in bed, focusing on the tinnitus and becoming increasingly frustrated. Similarly, if the patient wakes up during the night, it is challenging to fall back asleep. The fact that tinnitus is often most intense at night, coupled with the silence in the house, tend to make it even more difficult.

If the sleep problems happen to persist over longer periods, the sleep deprived body eventually becomes exhausted, which tends to worsen the tinnitus. Since the now intensified tinnitus makes it even harder to fall asleep, the problems quickly become self-reinforcing, demanding the need to address at least one of the factors to break the vicious cycle.

Lenire treatment stimulates the vagus nerve and thereby the calming branch of the

autonomic nervous system (the so-called parasympathetic nervous system). Therefore, it can be beneficial to use Lenire as a self-treatment approach shortly before bedtime.

Acupuncture, reflexology, and craniosacral therapy are also among the gentle and side-effect-free approaches, when it comes to treating sleeping issues.

If these appear not to be sufficient, we recommend consulting a general practitioner to consider the option of a temporary prescription of sleep medication such as melatonin, or even stronger medications in more severe cases, with the aim to break the self reinforcing vicious cycle of tinnitus and sleeping issues.

The sooner you can get off the sleep medication again, the better, since those types of medications often tend to be highly addictive.

Tinnitus can be improved in the vast majority of cases. Lenire’s second large-scale clinical trial, TENT-A2, previewed and published in the summer of 2022, showed that in 95% of cases, tinnitus could be significantly improved after 3 months of treatment with the Lenire-device, whereas 91% of the patients also reported that the result were sustainable 12 months after completing the treatment. Therefore, Lenire currently stands as the tinnitus treatment with the strongest scientific foundation. However there are also other methods that have proven effective in clinical practice. Notched music therapy has shown remarkable results on many patients, and we also find that laser/infrared treatment of the inner ear reduces tinnitus and often has several other positive effects, such as reducing the feeling of pressure in the ears and reducing sound sensitivity.

Even though these methods are great tools to treat tinnitus by making the tinnitus-noise much more tolerable, it is important to be cautious about promising an actual complete cure for tinnitus, as that only occurs in extremely rare cases and usually only if the tinnitus has not persisted for more than a few weeks.

Yes and no. Brain scans are able to detect electromagnetic hypersensitivity in certain areas of the brain on tinnitus-patients, such as in the prefrontal cortex, the auditory cortex, and the limbic system. However, no machine or device is able to detect what the patient is hearing or measure how burdened they are by it. That would be as complex as reading a patient’s thoughts and feelings, so “fortunately”, as some might say, that’s beyond the capabilities of current technology.

Frequency measurement is the closest thing one can get to an objective measurement of tinnitus, and it involves measuring the pitch of one’s tinnitus, which can actually vary significantly from person to person.

We conduct the measurements by exposing the patient to different tones and/or types of noise, which the patient has to evaluate. That way, we will eventually end up identifying the one that closely resembles the tinnitus of the patient. We employ different techniques such as “multiple choice” or slowly sliding a tone gradually brighter in frequency until it aligns the patient’s tinnitus. Frequency measurement is easier when dealing with a pure tone, but can also in most cases be done if the tinnitus is more like a buzzing noise.

In case measuring the frequency proves challenging, we will recommend the Lenire treatment as it doesn’t require any frequency measurements.

Tinnitus patients can experience frequencies ranging from as low as 200 Hz (deep rumbling) to as high as 15,000 Hz (piercing high-frequency). However, most patients who come to us for treatment fall between the range of 2,000 Hz and 11,000 Hz, with an average around 6,500 Hz.

The level of tinnitus-burden is typically measured via. questionnaires, primarily with the use of the THI score (Tinnitus Handicap Inventory). On the THI-scale, patients can score between 100 points (worst thinkable scenario) and 0 points (completely free of tinnitus). However, it’s worth noting that the score does not fully take into account the human factors, meaning that a strong patient in good mental health balance may receive a lower score than a patient experiencing stress, anxiety and uncertainty in their life, even if they happen to have the exact same degree of tinnitus.

When using the THI questionnaire in research studies, such as the Lenire trials and other large-scale trials, it still provides a fairly accurate indication of the degree of tinnitus-burden since the high number of participants “evens out” and thereby compensates for the variations in human factors.

Another way to measure the level of tinnitus-burden is by comparing the tinnitus frequency with the hearing threshold, which is the point where the patient’s hearing starts to become significantly impaired. If the tinnitus frequency and the hearing threshold are very close to each other, the patient tends to experience extreme burden and be completely trapped in their tinnitus day and night. If the two numbers are further apart, the patient will normally be significantly less burdened and find it way easier to ignore the tinnitus.

So when speaking of the level of tinnitus-burden, frequency does play a huge role, but there are exceptions to the rule, and there will be patient cases that don’t follow this theory. The degree of burden is also influenced by the volume/loudness of the tinnitus and the shape/type of the sound (whether it is “sharp” or “soft/rounded”). Furthermore, as previously mentioned, there is a high degree of human factors involved. However, frequency measurement still remains one of the most reliable parameters in estimating the degree of tinnitus-burden.

Kids and adolescents can experience tinnitus quite a few times while growing up, for example, after playing drums, cranking up loud music on headphones or EarPods, and going to concerts, festivals, or parties with loud sound systems. However, in most cases, their tinnitus goes away after hours, a night’s sleep, or at most a couple of days. Only in rare cases does tinnitus in children and young people become chronic, even though it came from sound exposure that often would have caused permanent tinnitus in adults.

Interestingly, a young person gets the same degree of damage on the sensory hair cells as an adult does. The crucial difference lies in the resources the body has available to repair or compensate for this damage once it occurs.

For children and teenagers, the brain is a dynamic powerhouse, constantly evolving at a rapid pace. It’s not just growing physically but continuously forming new neural connections, essentially adapting and upgrading its infrastructure. This is nature’s way to ensure that young individuals have enhanced opportunities to quickly adapt and acquire new knowledge and skills, so they can become self-sufficient and navigate the world as fast as possible. That’s the reason why children and young people learn foreign languages or physically demanding skills, such as skiing or surfing, much faster and easier compared to the effort it would take a 50-year old.

This will and ability of the brain to learn new things, change, and adapt by forming new neural connections is referred to as “neuroplasticity”. This plasticity is crucial for determining whether tinnitus “disappears on its own” or becomes chronic.

If tinnitus disappears, it doesn’t just happen automatically. It is due to the brain’s ability to compensate for the damage that occurred. The brain wraps the damage in infrastructure, creates new neural pathways that compensate for the damage, allowing the signals or “traffic” to flow freely and unhindered, even though there is an underlying injury to the network.

So the resources of enhanced neuroplasticity in the young brain make it possible, in most cases, to repeatedly repair damage to the hearing, whereas the same degree of damage to an adult’s hearing can result in long-lasting or chronic tinnitus, dramatically affecting their quality of life.

This natural path to improving or curing tinnitus is utilized in the Lenire tinnitus treatment, which stimulates the vagus nerve through the tongue, and as a result, the neuroplasticity of the brain gets activated.

The vagus nerve is known for its ability to stimulate neuroplasticity, and nowhere on the body can it be stimulated more effectively than on the tongue, unless one wishes to make use of a surgical implant in the patient (which is actually done in some epilepsy patients).

The tongue serves as a point of access to the vagus nerve since, unlike many areas of the body, it’s not surrounded by skin and underlying fatty tissue but merely covered by a membrane. Furthermore, the mouth contains a naturally moist environment, ideal for transmitting electrical impulses.

We know that optimal enhancement of neuroplasticity through vagus nerve stimulation occurs when the brain is simultaneously active in the area where improvement is desired. Therefore, in the Lenire concept, tongue stimulation is combined with sound therapy, and the micro-impulses on the tongue are even synchronized with the tones the patient hears, to encourage the brain to link these two different stimuli as closely as possible. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that the patient during the treatment is focused solely on the sound therapy, without distractions such as watching news or having their thoughts wander elsewhere.

In other words, the Lenire treatment activates a natural pathway to alleviate tinnitus. It gives the adult brain a gentle nudge to facilitate the healing process – a task that the brain is better equipped to handle during childhood or adolescence where it usually doesn’t need that nudge. For this reason, we don’t provide the Lenire treatment to people younger than 18, as their brains are not deemed to require the nudge from the treatment.

As described in the section above, the Lenire treatment is a pathway to stimulate neuroplasticity, which typically leads to improvement and relief of tinnitus in adult tinnitus patients. There is a fairly broad consensus that enhancing neuroplasticity is likely the future of tinnitus treatment. However, in fact, one can take steps that have neuroplasticity-enhancing and brain-developing effects, even in adulthood.

Extensive research is currently being conducted on neuroplasticity. Previously, it was believed that the human brain solely constructs and develops itself during childhood, and that it would remain more or less fixed in adulthood.

However, later it has been discovered that adults actually have the ability to rewire their brains. Reorganization of brain structures can be accessed in adulthood through neuroplasticity, which refers to the brain’s will and ability to connect new neural pathways and thereby creating new infrastructure.

Since tinnitus exists and is perceived in the brain – and therefore must be treated in the brain – it makes sense to actively do something to access neuroplasticity during tinnitus-treatment. The more the neuroplasticity of the brain is activated, the more open and adaptive the brain will be in forming new ways of perceiving tinnitus. If the brain perceives tinnitus as something more tolerable, tinnitus itself will become more tolerable. Therefore, the more neuroplasticity the patient’s brain can access during treatment, the greater the potential for improvements.

There are multiple practical approaches to stimulate neuroplasticity in the brain and thereby make it more adaptable. Most of them revolve around exposure to situations and environments where the brain needs to navigate and adapt to something unfamiliar and slightly uncomfortable.

That explains why adults who’ve never previously danced, experience a boost in neuroplasticity in their brains when they start attending dance classes. Generally, the process of learning new physical sports enhances neuroplasticity – especially with less repetitive sports that involve a wide range of movements at different tempos, such as dance, team sports, yoga, parkour, or martial arts. However, you are not limited to these specific types of sports. Simply trying something new that you could be curious about learning will likely activate neuroplasticity. Approaching new sports with a playful and curious approach rather than an overly competitive one, has been found to be particularly beneficial in this context.

The same applies to activities beyond physical sports such as acting, learning a new language, a new instrument, or how to play chess, have proven highly effective in activating neuroplasticity. You can also train the brain to navigate new situations and thus stimulate neuroplasticity by traveling and exploring new places, or practicing being comfortable in cold water (cold exposure).

As you can see, there are numerous ways to achieve higher levels of neuroplasticity. The key is to never feel too old to make changes in your current lifestyle and embrace new habits, environments, and hobbies. That’s why we are very open towards patients wanting to integrate something new into their lifestyle. Not because the specific activity necessarily has a direct effect on tinnitus, but because the patient’s willingness and process of changing habits and lifestyle have a contagious effect on the brain’s willingness and capacity to form new infrastructure, which makes the brain more receptive to treatment and thereby perceiving tinnitus as more tolerable.

That explains why we often observe better treatment outcomes in patients with an “active lifestyle,” who don’t feel too old to travel, engage in various sports, and learn new things, compared to people who remain stuck in the same old habits and lifestyle they’ve had for years.

It also emphasizes the importance of resisting the tendency to let tinnitus take up the energy and focus to engage in new activities and maintain an active lifestyle. Engaging in new habits, sports, and disciplines will not only shift the focus away from tinnitus but also activate the brain’s mechanisms that lead to better treatment of the condition.

Although a staggering 10-15% of the population is bothered by tinnitus, it’s a disorder that receives surprisingly little attention. In the U.S., it is estimated that around 40 million people are affected by tinnitus, and in Denmark, the number is likely well over half a million. 

All age groups can get affected by tinnitus, but it is more common among adults. Our average patient is 55 years old. However, in recent years, especially during the covid lockdowns, we’ve witnessed an increase in tinnitus among young people, which is extremely concerning. 

Tinnitus often occurs in connection with hearing damage or hearing loss, but that’s far from always the case. Often, it is a result of overall stress on the body or the nervous system that triggers tinnitus, and causes such as stress, changes in pressure, fever/illness, and even medication-related toxicity are neither uncommon. Children who have suffered a lot from otitis media often end up developing tinnitus later in life.

No, one of the great things about Lenire is that it can be used regardless of how you experience tinnitus, whether that might be as a constant tone, a buzzing sound, or any other type of noise. It is also irrelevant whether your tinnitus has occurred due to hearing loss or stress.

We especially recommend Lenire to tinnitus-patients who don’t have a constant tone but rather a more of a diffuse/buzzing noise. The reason being that these patients often have difficulties with notched music therapy, as it involves frequency measurements, which can be more challenging to achieve if the noise is not a relatively clear tone.

While the clinical trials for Lenire are based on a 3-month treatment period, most patients continue their treatment for a longer duration. On average, patients in Denmark undergo Lenire treatment for approximately six months.

Certainly! The Lenire device is carefully configured based on your individual hearing, similar to a hearing aid. In case you still find the sound therapy to be overly stimulating, we can lower it by 6-12 dB and even remove certain elements from the sound. You will have plenty of time to test the device, and no one is sent away before we have customized a sound therapy that you find comfortable and relaxing.

Tinnitus often gets developed due to stress in the nervous system, but chronic tinnitus in itself is also a significant cause of stress for the body. Therefore, it can be hard to determine exactly which came first – tinnitus or the state of stress, why it is often considered a “chicken and egg” situation.

Tinnitus patients can awfully quickly get trapped in a vicious cycle – stress triggers tinnitus, tinnitus intensifies the state of stress and further burdens the body, the patient experience trouble sleeping, the patient starts to worry more about the condition worsening, the psychological burden starts intensifying the tinnitus further, and that way, the negative and self-reinforcing cycle of suffering and hopelessness continues.

On the positive flipside of that coin, even a small improvement can activate a similar self-reinforcing chain reaction – but a beneficial one that works in the favor of the patient, leading to better sleep, reduced stress levels and thereby a renewed hope that life can turn for the better.

Almost everyone has experienced temporary tinnitus outbreaks after being in loud environments such as a concert or a night out at a club. The reason being that the loud noises overwhelms the sensory hair cells, why you may go to bed with a ringing sensation, which usually disappears the following day. Other people experience that tinnitus occurs suddenly when they find themselves in situations of acute stress or after having been under prolonged periods of pressure. It usually manifests as a high-pitched ringing noise in one of the ears, fading away after a few minutes if you manage to take a moment to relax and calm your system. In many cases this sudden “alarming tone” may be accompanied by a sense of pressure in the same ear as the ringing. The sound of tinnitus isn’t always characterized by ringing; it can also manifest as a buzzing noise reminiscent of the ocean, a hissing sound like air escaping from a valve, or an electric humming / vibrating frequency noise.

Tinnitus is often characterized as a high-pitched ringing sound, but that is not always the case. It can also manifest as a buzzing noise such as the sound of a seashell, an electric frequency noise like a radio or TV unable to detect a signal or a rumbling, swirling noise like that of a motor or a centrifuge. The noise can feel like it’s coming from the entire head, but many patients only perceive it in their ears or just in one of their ears.

Typically, symptoms of tinnitus manifest as ringing or buzzing in the ears. The patient can have up to 2-3 different tinnitus tones or types of noise simultaneously. Some patients also report periodic humming, whirring, or clicking sounds. Tinnitus is often accompanied by increased sensitivity to sound or a feeling of pressure in the ears. It can affect one ear, both ears, or feel as if it is coming from inside the head.

Nearly everyone has experienced short and temporary outbreaks of tinnitus after attending a concert or being exposed to other loud noises, or perhaps when feeling stressed or exhausted. Normally, tinnitus will disappear again after a few hours or a night’s sleep, but in some cases, it doesn’t, and then there is a risk of it developing into a chronic and serious disease significantly affecting the patient’s quality of life.

Tinnitus can arise from various sources, including excessive noise exposure as well as factors like stress, exhaustion, intoxications (e.g., reactions to medication or vaccines), high fever, and changes in pressure (e.g., during diving or flying). In other words, when tinnitus appears, we distinguish between two main courses: auditory overload or some sort of stress in the system.

Many tinnitus patients also experience dizziness. A patient who not only suffers from tinnitus but also hearing loss and dizziness will be diagnosed with Ménière’s disease.

In the public healthcare system, no specific treatment is offered for either Tinnitus or Ménière’s disease.

Over the years, we have treated numerous patients with tinnitus, including many with Ménieres disease. We have had surprisingly successful outcomes in treating dizziness with ear acupuncture, by targeting points related to the inner ear, jaw, and ocular motor systems. 

In most cases, our patients have already reported significant improvement after just 1-2 treatments.

Most of us have experienced short and temporary outbreaks of tinnitus after doing activities with high noise exposure such as attending a concert or shooting. 

However, in certain cases, the tinnitus does not go away on its own and instead it becomes a chronic condition. If tinnitus has persisted for more than just a few weeks in a row, it can be challenging to make it disappear completely. Children generally have a much easier time getting rid of tinnitus, likely due to their enhanced levels of neuroplasticity. Despite this, there is still a possibility for adults to achieve complete relief from tinnitus, in which case, immediate action at an early stage is essential.

The vast majority of the patients receiving our treatment report significant reduction in their tinnitus, to the point where they reach a substantial improvement in their quality of life. However, we only observe a complete reversal in children and teenagers, or if adults are acting very quickly to initiate treatment shortly after the ringing or noise has become persistent.

Many tinnitus patients are offered hearing aids to alleviate their tinnitus. However, the results vary significantly. Some feel that it helps their tinnitus, others feel that it worsens or triggers their tinnitus, and some do not notice any difference.

Many tinnitus-patients are provided with a technique called masking within their hearing aids, where a specific sound such as birdsong or flowing water is incorporated with the aim to redirect the patient’s attention away from the tinnitus and towards more relaxing and comfortable sounds. It is important to note that techniques like masking is purely a psychological distraction from the tinnitus, and while that can be a relief for some patients, it does not play any role in actually treating and reducing the tinnitus long term like methods such as notched music therapy does. Contrary to Masking, notched music therapy requires the patients to regularly get their tinnitus-frequency measured and continuously get their sound therapy adjusted accordingly. Therefore, it is important not to confuse these two methods.

The anxiety and fear that the tinnitus will get worse is a constant plague for most patients – especially within the first months or years for those who are severely affected. That applies even to mentally strong individuals who have never experienced what it means to have anxiety. Once one has experienced how frightening it is that an intrusive and disruptive noise can suddenly appear within their own mind, and seemingly cannot be controlled or easily dismissed, it tends to leave a huge psychological impact.

In the initial phase, tinnitus patients tend to have hope, either that the noise will disappear on its own over time, or that it can somehow be treated in the public health-care system. But when they eventually realize that their tinnitus doesn’t simply go away on its own and, typically after a long and frustrating wait, see an ENT who tells them that there is no cure for tinnitus and it’s a condition they must learn to cope with, the patient’s frustration reaches a peak, and in worst case, it can develop into depression or anxiety.

The anxiety usually revolves around two questions that the patient keeps repeating in his own head:

It is really true that the tinnitus condition will never improve, and what if it gets even worse?

As counterintuitive as it might seem, the fear of worsening actually tends to amplify the intensity of tinnitus, which results in a negative self-reinforcing effect. In other words, the tinnitus-affected can get trapped in a vicious cycle where the fear of worsening directly creates worsening, leading to additional anxiety and stress, which in turn intensifies the tinnitus even further, and that way, the detrimental cycle continues.

As practitioners, one of our greatest responsibilities is to break the vicious cycle, the sooner the better, and to implant a realistic hope in the patient that their tinnitus can be reduced and teach them a calm and balanced approach to tinnitus.

The downward spiral of detriment can be transformed to a positive upward spiral, and here are our key points for reversing the dynamics:

1: We want the tinnitus-patient to experience an actual physical improvement as quickly as possible after initiating treatment. When we manage to create a noticeable improvement already within the early phases, the patient will experience a sense of hope. That hope provides optimism and gives the patient a relief from worrying, causing the anxiety to recede. Practically, that means the pure physical improvement we manage to create in the early treatment often gets duplicated by the patient’s psychological response, which triggers even more psychological relief, improving the physical condition even further, and so it continues. The physical and psychological factors are reinforcing each other when it comes to tinnitus, so just a slight improvement in the early treatment will kickstart an upward spiral.

When it comes to providing results as fast as possible, Lenire is the best treatment method, but laser/infrared light therapy tends to create noticeable improvement in the early stages as well. It is not uncommon for us to combine both methods to give the patient the quickest relief possible. On the other hand, notched music therapy works slower and is more of a long-term approach (except when applied to children and younger people under the age of 30) and is therefore not suitable as a standalone treatment if the tinnitus-patient is suffering from anxiety.

2: The tinnitus patient should avoid constantly evaluating their tinnitus from morning to afternoon and from one day to the next. It is a meaningless waste of time and only serves to increase the focus on the tinnitus, which, as previously mentioned, has a negatively reinforcing effect. We want the patient to “zoom out” and evaluate their tinnitus on a monthly basis instead.

So to be very clear: We are not particularly concerned with short-term fluctuations or changes in tinnitus – what matters is the long-term trend and development. If the patient needs assistance in evaluating whether they are heading in the right direction over the long term, we recommend using frequency measurements or THI questionnaires.

3: The patient must avoid fearing that the tinnitus will get worse. It is extremely rare that tinnitus gets worsened permanently without something dramatically negative happening in the patient’s life. A permanent worsening will only happen in cases of severe provocation such as excessively loud noise exposure, extreme stress exposure, prolonged chronic stress/burnout, shocks, medical poisoning, extremely high fever, and other similar incidents of serious caliber.

Living in fear of the above-mentioned conditions is meaningless self-torment and a sad way to live life. We must resist giving in to that fear, the same that we all have to resist living in a constant fear of getting cancer or dying. This anxiety of the absolute worst-case scenarios will never prevent them from happening, but only make the part of life where we are healthy and well-off less enjoyable.

So the incidents in life that would actually be serious enough to permanently worsen tinnitus, we cannot guard ourselves against anyway. Therefore, the anxiety is irrational, and there is nothing good to be found at the bottom of that black hole – only more anxiety and more tinnitus. One must try to find their inner strength and resist giving into the anxiety.

Be strong! Believe that you won’t just suddenly get much worse without any significant reason or incident. Live life sensibly and don’t put too much weight on the small fluctuations in tinnitus. If your tinnitus almost disappears for a moment, it doesn’t mean that it will start disappearing forever. Vice versa, if your tinnitus worsens tomorrow, it’s not the beginning of a worsening that will last for the rest of your life. It is temporary ripples and bumps, and if there is any obvious learning to draw from it, seize it with ease and reason. For instance, if you stayed up too late and consumed too much alcohol, and that intensifies the tinnitus, or if you notice a significant decrease in tinnitus throughout your vacation, it might be time to consider whether your current lifestyle or job is healthy for you. But if there is no immediate lesson to be drawn, clear it out of your mind. Not everything should be carefully considered, analyzed and dissected. And remember, when it comes to tinnitus, it is the overall long-term trend that is interesting – not the small fluctuations.

Some tinnitus patients find that moderate alcohol consumption can give them a temporary relief from tinnitus. This could be attributed to the short-term relaxing effects alcohol has on the body, particularly after a stressful week. However, when alcohol is consumed excessively to the point where it causes hangovers the following day, it typically has the opposite effect, since the body is burdened with breaking down the toxicity that alcohol causes in the system. A few tinnitus patients may be tempted to drink too much in a desperate attempt to alleviate their tinnitus. Clearly, this is a dangerous path to take, which can not only worsen tinnitus but also lead to catastrophic health, social, familial, and financial consequences.

Many tinnitus patients believe that their tinnitus originates from their necks because they can influence their tinnitus by moving their necks back and forth or opening and closing their jaws. While neck and jaw tension can intensify tinnitus to some extent, it is often not an effective factor to address when it comes to treating tinnitus. There is generally very little to gain in that area, apart from the sense of well-being that comes from loosening up tightness in the muscles.

When loosening tightness in the neck and the jaw, it will at best have a temporary positive influence on the volume, but not the frequency, of tinnitus. Many would assume that the volume of the tinnitus is the most bothersome aspect, not the frequency, but that is an illusion. It is in the reduction of frequency where lasting and sustainable improvement in tinnitus can be achieved – not in volume or intensity, which always represents a more temporary improvement that quickly reverts. Therefore, we no longer focus on treating muscle tightness in our tinnitus treatments. It never leads to the permanent improvement that patients seek, which should be the long-term goal of any treatment.

It is very common for tinnitus to occur after ear irrigation. This is likely due to inflammation or stress on the sensory hair cells caused by the quite intense sound and pressure impact that the patient is exposed to during an ear irrigation. This state of stress or inflammation can cause both tinnitus and ear pressure. Such conditions are unfortunately impossible to detect or document on any scan, but can be extremely frustrating and bothersome for the patient. Often, infrared laser treatment can have a positive effect on both ear pressure and tinnitus, but unfortunately, not always. For some patients, these conditions can become chronic and very difficult to get rid of. Therefore, we always recommend being particularly cautious with ear irrigation, especially for someone who already has tinnitus. We acknowledge that ear irrigation can be a solution in certain cases where there is an actual blockage in the ear, but it should never be something that is necessary to do on a regular basis. And if the irrigation is necessary, it is important that it is performed by an experienced person who is aware of the possible risks to the patient.