There are four reasons why your tinnitus changes. The good news is you have an incredible amount of control over the things that cause them.
Tinnitus frequently changes in volume, pitch, and sound. Variations in your environment, stress level, health, and habituation status cause these, often daily, fluctuations. Sudden increases in tinnitus intensity that cause temporary discomfort are called tinnitus spikes.
Let’s identify why your tinnitus has changed recently and determine what you can do to alleviate your discomfort now.
The four reasons why tinnitus changes.
The environment you are in can make your tinnitus louder or softer.
Your surroundings can affect how you perceive your tinnitus. For example, in quiet environments like your bedroom, a library, or while you are hunting, the near lack of background noise makes your tinnitus sound louder. This is because the everyday sounds you are exposed to have been masking your tinnitus.
In some cases, the silence around you can trigger a heightened sense of hearing (think of a bear hunter hearing the crack of a twig behind them). This stress response can make the sound of objective tinnitus seem much louder.
Entering a quiet area immediately after being exposed to loud noise can also increase the perceived volume of your tinnitus.
The solution to tinnitus changes caused by your environment is to recognize why your tinnitus “seems” louder and then take the following steps.
- Don’t mistake an environmentally caused change for a permanent increase in your tinnitus.
- Understand that the increased intensity of your tinnitus is a mirage. It’s just the reduction of background noise (the masking) making you more aware of it.
- Don’t dwell on your increased awareness, or you’ll likely trick yourself into believing the worst.
- Recognize you live in a soundscape and travel through a world punctuated by noise and silence. Sometimes that world drowns out your tinnitus; sometimes, it lets you hear it.
- If knowledge alone doesn’t meet all your needs, add a little music, a fan, or other types of masking. Experience will eventually convince you that your tinnitus change was only temporary.
Your stress level can cause tinnitus changes.
- The stress of your tinnitus can make you dwell upon it more frequently and for longer durations.
- External stress can cause your tinnitus to sound louder, increase your anxiety and fear over it, and increase your discomfort.
How to relieve stress caused by tinnitus.
Stress about tinnitus comes from the unknown. You wonder if it will worsen with time or if you will be able to handle an increase in volume.
Fortunately, knowing the facts about tinnitus will relieve a great deal of this stress. The evidence proves most people live everyday lives. Your perception of the loudness of your tinnitus will decline. You will naturally habituate during the next 6-18 months. Your tinnitus is doomed to become barely noticed background noise eventually.
You can relieve much of your current tinnitus stress by learning how to sleep and work with tinnitus in the short term. You can also use various distraction techniques, which will provide you with hours of reduced tinnitus perception and no small amount of relaxation.
Reducing the tinnitus changes caused by poor health.
Many of the external stressors you will face cannot be eliminated, but you can increase your resistance to their effect upon you. Plenty of good quality sleep, a healthy diet, and regular exercise are your best defense against external stressors.
Sleep. Even one night of poor sleep can make you moody, impair your judgment, damage your memory, and increase the perceived loudness of your tinnitus. Several sleepless nights in a row can leave you unable to handle even normal levels of external stress.
To prevent sleep deprivation, establish a nightly routine built around a sleep schedule.
Diet. First, understand there is no scientific evidence proving your diet causes or affects tinnitus. That said, a proper diet can enhance your mood, lower your weight and blood pressure, and improve your sleep quality. All of which reduce your responses to negative external stressors.
Despite the lack of scientific research, there is anecdotal evidence that some foods can cause tinnitus spikes. You can read more about tinnitus and diet here: https://lifewithtinnitus.com/does-your-diet-affect-tinnitus/
Exercise. Twenty minutes of exercise can prevent moodiness, depression, and anxiety from building up. And exercise not only improves your ability to handle your symptoms but has also been shown to reduce your tinnitus symptoms.
If you are new to exercise, I recommend a good beginners video like this one.
Your tinnitus habituation status will lead to lower tinnitus loudness.
Tinnitus habituation, a natural process taking between 6 to 18 months, often reduces your tinnitus to a minor irritant you rarely think about. While your tinnitus volume will fluctuate up and down during this period, the general trend will be a gradual reduction in symptoms.
As you habituate, expect the occasional spike, days of reduced loudness, and returns to normal levels. However, keep in mind that it’s not possible to reverse habituation. Just as you cannot keep the tip of your nose in view all day, you can’t train yourself to be constantly aware of your tinnitus. Your brain knows these are worthless sensory data and will quickly block them out over time.
To sum up, your tinnitus sound will change a lot as your recover. It’s normal and should be anticipated. When you notice it, note it and move on with your day.