4 Common Ways Your Ears Get Clogged

It is an annoying and sometimes frightening sensation when your ears get clogged. As a result, you have muffled hearing, and your ears can feel full. The condition could be painless, brief, and resolve itself. However, if it involves other symptoms, you should see your doctor immediately.

4 common reasons your ears get clogged. — Your ears often feel clogged and eventually pop on an airplane while taking off (or landing). Photo credit: IStockPhoto.com/Atstock productions.

Fluid in the ear, altitude change, foreign object blockage, and excessive ear wax can cause clogged ears. These conditions may painlessly resolve themselves. However, if accompanied by pain, tinnitus, dizziness, or hearing loss, you should consult a physician.

Want to know what causes these conditions, the symptoms, and how to treat them? Then continue reading!

The four most common reasons your ears get clogged.

Almost everyone has felt the sensation of clogged ears. Some folks, especially those that live and work at different altitudes, experience it once or twice a day. But, for most of us, the causes are temporary, painless, and minor irritations.

Changes in altitude can cause your ears to get clogged.

The reason your ears feel clogged and sometimes pop when you are flying or driving in the mountains? It’s all because of a small air pocket inside your head.

Believe it or not, your ears have popped or clicked every time you have swallowed. Every single time, since the day you were born. You don’t notice it because your brain has filtered out the noise and sensation. As a result, it got branded as fake news and censored.

Related: Why is your brain acting as a brutal dictator and censoring information a good thing? If you have tinnitus problems, read this article to find out why.

Now, that little pocket of air? Well, it gets into your middle ear by coming up the back of your nose and passing through your Eustachian Tube.

Your Eustachian Tube is a pencil-thick membraned passageway that connects the back of your nose to your middle ear. The air in your middle ear is continuously absorbed and resupplied through the Eustachian Tube’s membrane. This keeps the pressure on both sides of your eardrum equalized.
However, when the air pressure isn’t equal, your ears feel clogged.

Going down in an elevator can cause your ears to clog. — A quick trip down in an elevator can cause temporary clogged ears.

You have undoubtedly felt this descending a mountain in a car, traveling in an elevator, or landing in a plane. These are all instances where you move quickly from a lower pressure atmosphere to higher pressure.

When your Eustachian Tube cannot open fast and wide enough to keep up with the pressure changes, it creates a problem.

How to treat ears clogged by altitude changes.

The best way to treat altitude-related clogging of the ears is to prevent it in the first place. Swallowing is nature’s way of opening and widening your Eustachian Tube. You can increase the rate of this process by yawning and chewing gum as you ascend or descend.

During commercial airplane travel, you usually are awoken if asleep and asked to return your seat to the upright position during a landing. Being awake helps you because you swallow less frequently while sleeping. In addition, you can further help prevent altitude clogging of the ears by waking a few minutes before the plane’s descent begins.

Forcefully unclogging your ears should be done with caution. Here’s an audiologist to show you how to safely do it.

Related: Trouble getting a good night’s sleep because of the ringing in your ears? Try The 15 Minute Challenge and read this article on how to get to sleep quickly.

Excessive Ear Wax leads to plugged ears.

Too much ear wax build-up can leave your ears feeling full and clogged. In addition, if the wax impacts enough on your eardrum, it can also cause tinnitus.

The ear’s natural cleaning system is enough for most people to prevent excessive wax build-up. However, some people may produce too much ear wax, which can become a problem.

Naturally produced, if excessive, ear wax doesn’t usually lead to a blockage all by itself. Instead, the jam is often caused by one of two things.

Improper ear cleaning. Using the wrong cleaning technique can push the wax further into your ear. If you are not careful, you could rupture your eardrum by inserting a cleaning tool too deeply into it.
Contact stimulus. Headphones, earbuds, and hearing aids that rub against the ears can cause additional ear wax production. As a defense against contact stimulus, your ears attempt to produce more was to flush out the foreign objects.

How to prevent ear wax from clogging your ears and causing tinnitus.

How ear wax can cause your ears to clog. — Learn how to safely and correctly clean your ears at home.

While there are many products on the market for cleaning your ears, like these from Amazon, you should consult with your doctor and have your ears professionally cleaned whenever you have a problem.

Related: Which doctor should you see after a tinnitus diagnosis? Read this article to find out.

How fluid in your ears can cause ear clogging and even tinnitus.

How Fluid in your Ear causes clogging and tinnitus.

When your ears feel plugged, it can result from swelling in your Eustachian Tube. As noted above, this tube is responsible for normalizing pressure on both sides of your eardrums.

A swollen Eustachian Tube cannot accomplish this fluid accumulates in your inner ear. This accumulation causes your ears to become clogged and sometimes produces tinnitus.

One of the most common causes of problems in the Eustachian Tube is severe cold or allergic reaction, swelling of the thin, bony plates inside your nose, and swollen adenoids and tonsils.

If you have fluid in your ear, there may be no additional symptoms except ear pain. However, seek medical treatment if you suspect a young child may have fluid in their ears, as the resulting hearing lock can result in speech delays.

Fluid in the ear can cause clogged ears.. — Fluid in the ear can cause clogged ears and hearing problems in children.

Related: Want to know how to set up a nighttime sleep schedule when you have tinnitus? Read this article here.

Your ears get clogged by foreign objects, too.

Foreign objects getting lodged in your ears can cause your ears to feel clogged. While we usually associate this situation with small children, adults are also prone to it.

Children are constantly sticking objects into their mouths, noses, and ears. There is an additional hazard if they are not old enough to speak yet. How will you know they have something stuck in the ear?

A small enough object may become lodged in their ear canal but remain invisible to you. If there is no sign of fever, the only symptoms may be a facial expression of irritation and continuous ear rubbing.

If you observe such behavior, it’s okay to examine your child’s ear with a flashlight. However, do not attempt to remove the object yourself to prevent rupturing the child’s eardrum or pushing the thing even deeper. Instead, get your child to a doctor for immediate treatment.

Adults sometimes get things stuck in their ears, too. Earplugs and the end caps to hearing buds are the usual suspects. If you can’t safely pick out the blockage by yourself, your doctor will have a removal tool available to help relieve you of the obstruction.

If your ears get clogged frequently, consult a doctor.

If your ears often get clogged or feel full, or your condition worsens, see a doctor for professional advice. If pain, tinnitus, dizziness, or hearing loss result from clogged ear, seek medical intervention.

Which Doctor Should You See After a Tinnitus Diagnosis?

Congratulations! You have already taken the most critical step in recovering from your tinnitus: consulting a physician. Tinnitus has only one real power over you; fear of an unknown future. Having a diagnosis gives you a path forward. The next step for you is finding the right doctor to see about your tinnitus.

Which doctor for tinnitus diagnosis. — Getting a hearing check-up with ENT-doctor at soundproof audiometric booth using audiometry headphones and audiometer. Photo Credit: IStockPhoto.com/peakSTOCK

After a diagnoses of tinnitus, you should consult with an Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) specialist. An ENT will conduct an examination (inspection of the face, ears, nose, throat, and neck). They will then check for hearing loss and use pressure testing to examine the eardrum for fluid.

Tinnitus is a symptom, not a disease. Therefore, an ENT is the only doctor who can help you identify a treatable cause. Keep reading to find out what some treatable causes are.

Related: Having trouble sleeping because of tinnitus? Read this article on how to quickly fall asleep.

Treatable conditions that can cause tinnitus.

An ENT will use your tinnitus diagnosis to help you find and treat a host of underlying conditions that might be causing it. In many cases, these treatments may end your tinnitus.

Medications that can cause tinnitus. Some medicines are considered “ototoxic.” Ototoxic (ear poisoning) medicine can cause hearing and balance problems when taken at certain levels.

Known ototoxic medicines include aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, certain antibiotics, and cancer treatments, as well as some diuretics. If your doctor permits it, reducing or eliminating the use of these medicines may prevent further damage, even if your tinnitus doesn’t cease.

Physical problems within your ear canal can cause tinnitus. For example, impacted ear wax, fluid build-up, infections, Otosclerosis, tumors, other inner ear growths, and issues with your Eustachian Tube can cause tinnitus.

Once addressed by your doctor, these potentially treatable conditions can put a permanent end to the ringing in your ears.

Hearing loss. Hearing loss is often associated with tinnitus, even when the patient is unaware they are suffering from it. Once this is diagnosed, treatment could range from masking with background sounds at night to the use of hearing aids.

Related: Is your tinnitus temporary? Read this article on how to tell the signs of temporary tinnitus.

What does an ENT examination for tinnitus involve?

An ENT examination for tinnitus consists of:

1. A medical history and list of medications taken.

2. A hearing test and possibly a few other painless tests, if required.

What questions does an ENT ask about tinnitus?

Your doctor will probably ask you some questions such as:

How long have you had tinnitus?
Is it in one ear or both?
What does your tinnitus sound like?
Is your tinnitus constant, or does it come and go?
Does your tinnitus affect your mood?
Does your tinnitus interfere with your sleep?
How loud is your tinnitus?
Does anything lessen your tinnitus?
Does anything irritate your tinnitus?
Have you been exposed to loud noises in the past?
Have you recently suffered a head injury or an ear infection.

Related: WHy is your tinnitus constantly changing? Read here to find out why tinnitus changes sounds.

What hearing exams and other tests do ENT use to treat tinnitus?

Your ENT examination will begin with a standard hearing test conducted in a soundproof booth. Then, while you are wearing earphones, sounds will be played into one of your ears at a time. Next, you’ll indicate when you can hear the sound with your hand, and your results will be compared with results considered typical for your age. Sometimes the results can help identify possible causes of tinnitus.

The hearing test may also include a:

Tympanometry test. A tympanometry test will help your ENT determine how well your eardrum moves. This test consists of a set of earphones with small probes in them. These probes push air into your ear, helping your doctor determine if your eardrums move correctly. This test often finds common problems that cause tinnitus, like perforated eardrums or ear infections.

An Otoacoustic Emission (OAE) Screening. This exam involves sending a low-volume sound stimulus into the ear. Your cochlea will respond by producing an otoacoustic emission, an “echo” that travels back through the middle ear to the ear canal. The screening unit then analyzes this echo.

Auditory Brainstem Response test. No need to worry! This test is nothing more than earphones and soft electrodes (stickers hold them in place) near the ears and on the forehead. Clicking sounds and tones are sent through the earphones, and the electrodes measure how the hearing nerves and brain respond.

Vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials. The Vestibular-evoked myogenic potential test (VEMP) is done while wearing headphones. A noise that sounds like a tapping woodpecker “will stimulate the inner ear, and the electrical response will be measured with electrodes placed on the forehead and neck. During this test, you will need to turn your head and hold it approximately 90 degrees to either side.

“When this sound is played, a tiny vestibular (balance) organ in your inner ear begins to shake slightly. This organ is responsible for some of your balance and equilibrium. By causing it to shake, a very small reflex is sent to various muscles of your neck. The electrodes placed on your neck measure this reflex, and therefore can help determine if the balance portion of your nerve is functioning correctly.” https://eioftx.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Vestibular-Testing-Instructions-06232020.pdf.

Electrocochleography test. A simple, painless test that takes about an hour and helps your doctor determine if increased fluid pressure is present in your inner ear. This could indicate a vestibular disorder like Ménière’s disease.

The test itself involves sticking small electrodes on your forehead and inserting smaller ones into your ear canals. You will then lie on a table and spend an hour listening to some pretty loud clicking noises.

Related: Is tinnitus possibly the best thing that ever happened to you? Click here to read how to turn your tinnitus into a morning superpower.

What are movement tests, and how do ENT’s use them for Tinnitus treatment?

For some patients, specific body movements can alter the sound or volume of their tinnitus.

To determine if this is the case, your doctor may ask you to move in different ways while observing if your tinnitus symptoms increase.

You should expect to be asked to move your arms, legs, neck, and eyes. You will also be asked to clench your jaw.

If there are any tinnitus changes associated with body movements, your ENT may be able to identify and treat the underlying condition causing it.

When would an ENT use a CT or MRI test to treat tinnitus?

Imaging tests, such as a CT scan or MRI, are often done only under particular conditions. This is because they are not without side effects such as exposure to radiation and possible worsening of symptoms.

Typically, an MRI test might be helpful for tinnitus if it sounds like your pulse or heartbeat, can be heard only In one ear, or you also have hearing loss, and the loss is different in each ear.

An MRI might also be called for if you also have symptoms of a problem with your nervous system, like trouble speaking, chewing, or swallowing, or suffer weakness or loss of feeling on one side of your body or face.

CT scans are usually reserved for sudden hearing loss after a head injury or cases of chronic ear problems, such as infections and earaches.

Always consult with an ENT when you are diagnosed with tinnitus.

For many tinnitus patients, there is currently no cure for chronic tinnitus; however, certain medications may cause tinnitus. Therefore, stopping their use with medical approval can solve your problem.

In some cases, however, tinnitus results from inner ear disorders. In those instances, treating the underlying condition can help.

Tinnitus is also sometimes caused by age-related hearing loss or conditions that lead to progressive hearing loss. An ENT can help prevent further damage and suggest treatments that relieve your symptoms in these cases.

Despite what may be causing your tinnitus, An ENT could suggest a treatment that helps manage and minimize the effects tinnitus has on your quality of life.

You’ve already taken that critical first step, sought out a doctor, and gotten a diagnosis of tinnitus. The next step, choosing an ENT to discover what the underlying condition is creating your symptoms, is the smartest thing you may ever do.

Can Blowing Your Nose Cause Tinnitus?

You mother probably taught you how to blow your nose. Did she do a bad job at it? Did she miss something? Is it even possible to blow your nose the wrong way? And if you do, could you end up with tinnitus for the rest of your life?

Bowing your nose cause tinnitus — Don’t blow too hard! Your ear drums will thank you.

Can blowing your nose cause tinnitus?

Blowing your nose can cause tinnitus if you blow too hard and cause ear trauma. If you use too much force, the sudden change in pressure behind one or both of your eardrums could cause them to rupture. The sound of a “pop” followed by pain, hearing loss, and sometimes severe tinnitus may result.

How to blow your nose without causing tinnitus.

Blowing your nose the proper way will prevent ear drum damage.

Holding a tissue over your nose, press a finger against one of your nostrils to close it off. Now blow the open nostril into the tissue or handkerchief gently and with as little pressure as possible.

How to fix tinnitus caused by blowing your nose.

A recent ear drum perforation should heal within 60 days. If it hasn’t, you may need medical assistance.

The first method is to patch your eardrum. This office procedure uses thin paper patches chemically affixed to your eardrum to seal off the hole. Several patches may be required; however, the first patch often improves hearing.

However, if surgery is required, it is minor, done on an outpatient basis, and often quite successful.

Can a sinus infection cause tinnitus?

Without question, exposure to loud noise is the leading cause of tinnitus. In addition, however, sinusitis or an infection in your sinuses could cause tinnitus.

Sinusitis can cause tinnitus if the bacteria or virus causing it irritate the tissues of your sinus cavity. As the tissues swell, mucus builds up and causes ear congestion. If this congestion blocks your Eustachian Tube, the pressure will also build up behind your eardrum—causing tinnitus.

Your sinuses are normally filled with air. When their inner lining swells, the Eustachian Tube can become blocked.

According to Interventions for adult Eustachian tube dysfunction: a systematic review: “The Eustachian tube is a narrow tube which links the back of the nose to the middle ear. It is normally closed but opens when we swallow, yawn or chew. The Eustachian tube has three main functions: to protect the middle ear from pathogens; to ventilate the middle ear, which can help to keep the air pressure equal on either side of the eardrum, enabling the eardrum to work and vibrate properly; and to help drain secretions from the middle ear cleft.”

A blocked Eustachian Tube can lead to your sinuses filling with fluid. This fluid build-up causes stuffiness, pain around your face, and pressure. This pressure (building up around your eardrum) causes sinus-related tinnitus.

How long does sinus tinnitus last?

Tinnitus from acute sinusitis caused by a mild infection or the common cold should subside in 10 days. However, tinnitus from chronic sinusitis can last for more than three months.

Always check with your doctor when you have a sinus-related condition.

Bacteria and viruses are not the only causes of sinusitis. Other causes of sinusitis include dental infections, smoking, allergies, diabetes.

According to the CDC, sinusitis does not always require potentially ototoxic antibiotics.

Tinnitus from sinus-related conditions should fade as the infection is treated and the pressure around your eardrums lessens.

Decongestants. While taking a decongestant often reduces sinus pressure, some antihistamines could aggravate your tinnitus. There are alternatives, so consult your doctor before using over-the-counter medications.

Keep yourself hydrated. Drink plenty of water. A properly hydrated body can better keep your sinuses clear and combat infection.
Take a steam team bath. Inhaling steam will soothe and open your nasal passages by loosening mucus. You can also use an inhaler.
Nasal wash. A nasal wash system like a Neti Pot helps soothe and relieve nasal symptoms and congestion associated with sinusitis.
Massage. Give yourself a nasal massage to help reduce the pressure and softly loosen the fluid in your sinuses.

Did something wrong with your nose cause tinnitus?

If something wrong with your nose is causing your tinnitus, you should be able to see a doctor, get it treated, and find eventual relief.

You are one of the lucky ones!

3 Signs You May Have Temporary Tinnitus

Many people experience bouts of temporary tinnitus. What are the signs your tinnitus might go away? Are there any steps you can take to avoid permanent tinnitus?

The three best indicators your tinnitus is only a temporary condition are:

Other people can hear noise coming from your ear, or the volume remains low.
You have a treatable medical condition or hearing damage from loud noises.
Your symptoms recently started and only last for a few minutes.

What is temporary tinnitus?

Temporary tinnitus is a new, strange noise heard in your ears lasting for less than two weeks. It generally arises from a treatable (ear wax, growth) condition or an identifiable and preventable exposure to hearing damage.

If you suffer repeated bouts of temporary tinnitus or it lasts for two or more weeks, consult a physician. Your doctor may be able to identify and treat your tinnitus before you suffer any further damage.

After being subjected to loud sounds or environments, temporary tinnitus is a warning sign. For example, sudden, short-duration tinnitus after exposure to rifle fire or a rock concert indicates temporary hearing damage. Continued exposure could lead to hearing loss and permanent tinnitus. Wear some form of suitable hearing protection whenever you might be near loud noise.

Your type of tinnitus can determine how long it persists.

There are four types of tinnitus: somatic, neurological, objective, and subjective.

Somatic tinnitus. This type of tinnitus is related to problems of the musculoskeletal system, not the ear. Somatic tinnitus is a side effect. If your doctor can identify and treat the sensory issue causing it, your tinnitus may stop.

Neurological tinnitus: a form of tinnitus caused by head or neck trauma and tumors. Neurological tinnitus is often heard in only one ear. This condition is treatable, but no known cure exists.

Subjective tinnitus: This is the most common type of tinnitus. It is often associated with exposure to loud, damaging noise. However, if you take preventive steps, you may prevent a permanent case of subjective tinnitus.

Objective tinnitus: One of the most treatable forms of tinnitus. Causes include things like ear wax or ear diseases. Objective tinnitus is the only tinnitus that other people under the right conditions can hear.

Treatable conditions that cause temporary tinnitus.

Earwax and tinnitus. If you experience tinnitus and hearing loss episodes, your problem may be compacted earwax. If you suspect this might be the case, talk to your doctor. Do not attempt to clean your ears out. You may cause further damage.

Perforated eardrum: A tear or hole in your eardrum can cause tinnitus. These perforations can be the result of trauma (cleaning your ears with a sharp instrument), middle ear infections, exposure to overpressure (loud noises, explosions), or changes in air pressure (flying when you have a terrible cold). A perforated eardrum will have additional symptoms, especially an earache. A doctor can quickly diagnose this condition for you. Much of the time, your eardrum will heal by itself and not require surgery.

Ear infection: Sometimes, fluid and swelling in your ear caused by an ear infection can produce temporary tinnitus. Since some infections require antibiotics, you should consult with your physician. If you experience numerous infections, let your doctor or audiologist know.

Ototoxic medications. Some prescription and over-the-counter medications can damage your ears and cause side effects like tinnitus. Ask your doctor about any drugs you are taking. If you are using an over-the-counter medicine, check the American Tinnitus Association’s list of ototoxic medications.

Medical conditions: There are a variety of medical conditions known to cause temporary tinnitus. If properly treated, some diseases, like diabetes and high blood pressure, could relieve your tinnitus symptoms.

Temporary tinnitus caused by loud noises.

If your tinnitus bothers you enough to alter your personality or damages the quality of your life, seek immediate medical attention. If temporary tinnitus reoccurs or you cannot identify its cause, you should seek the opinion of an audiologist.

The sooner you identify what is causing your tinnitus, the more likely a medical resolution will be found before it becomes permanent.

4 Reasons Why Your Tinnitus Changes

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.

How to Turn Morning Tinnitus In a Superpower

Most morning tinnitus suffers recover and return to everyday lives. But you don’t have to settle with ordinary life. Instead, you can use the gift of tinnitus as a superpower to unleash all of your true potentials. Here’s how to do it.

Handled the right way, morning tinnitus is the superpower you need to turn your dreams into reality. It will be your life coach, helping you keep your eyes on your daily goals. It will alert you when you are being unproductive. It will help you build the life you want, one morning at a time.

Your entire outlook on tinnitus is about to change. When it does, have some pity on those who wake up to quiet, peaceful mornings. They silenced their only motivation when they slapped their alarm clock’s snooze button.

A new view of morning tinnitus.

How much would you pay for a morning pill or beverage that was calorie-free, non-addictive, and instantly provided you with the fuel to create the perfect day? What would it cost to hire a personal life coach who lived and worked with you 24/7? And how much did that smartwatch you are wearing, the one that beeps and vibrates when you’ve been sitting too long, cost you?

Having all those things would change your life. Deep down inside, you’ve always known you just needed a little extra help to achieve all your goals. You always had the talent but lacked the willpower.

Until now, now you have had tinnitus. An irritating, often frightening sound in your head. When that noise started, your whole life felt damaged. You spend hours every day thinking about it. Fearing it will get worse, perhaps becoming too much for you to handle.

But that last thought, that it might get worse? That means you are already making progress on your road to recovery. It means you have slightly habituated, come to a small degree, to accept and deal with your tinnitus.

It means you are ready to try a different approach to dealing with your tinnitus. It means you are prepared to use it.

Turning morning tinnitus from an enemy into a friend.

It’s okay to feel sorry for those poor folks who don’t have tinnitus. They are doomed to wake up, grab a coffee, and immediately sit down in a comfy chair and stare blankly into a flickering, blue screen. They trade the best hours of their day for useless news about events they can’t control and people they will never meet. Technically, their brains won’t wake up for at least another hour or so.

And to think, you once yearned for a cure that would end your tinnitus and allow you to be just like them again. Maybe you still do? Do you want to be comfortable again? All day? Do you still hate your tinnitus?

Well, even if you loathe your tinnitus and would do anything to be free of it, that’s okay. You can work with that anger. Comfort, on the other hand, is useless to you. It is nothing more than a transient state between discomfort and the desire for even greater comfort.

The first step toward turning tinnitus from an enemy into a friend is finding common ground. Think about when your tinnitus bothers you the most and when it is nearly unnoticeable. What are you doing during those moments?

Then consider this, is it possible to use the knowledge you just learned to quieten your tinnitus using some good distractions? Could those distractions consist of the tasks required to achieve a goal?

Why tinnitus is great for your goals.

There’s a good reason you don’t plop down in a chair and watch the news in the morning. It’s because your tinnitus will start to howl the moment you become inert. So, you have already identified the moments when the ringing in your ears is the worst. And you’ve already taken steps to avoid some of those occasions.

That’s great for two reasons. First, you have already accepted that relieving your tinnitus symptoms doesn’t require an imaginary miracle cure. Second, you have already proven to yourself that you do have some control over your tinnitus.

Discovering you are not powerless to the harmful emotional reactions brought on by tinnitus is liberating. However, learning how to use tinnitus to keep you focused, motivated, and constantly working on your goals is life-changing.

Tinnitus does have power. Its power lies in its ability to roust you out of your comfort zone. It simply will not let you sit down and turn off your brain. It buzzes when you mindlessly watch tv. It hollers when you consume too much alcohol.

Hell, it acts like you’re a climber who just sat down 300 feet from the summit of Mount Everest. It knows it has to get you up and moving again; right now, before you become a frozen landmark, other climbers pass by on their way down from success.

Unfortunately, tinnitus is often too powerful for most of us. Tinnitus starts as an annoyance, but it can soon become a loud, threatening bully. Tinnitus can cause paralyzing fear.

But that fear is a false reality. Let’s quickly learn why.

The false fear of tinnitus.

Nearly everyone who experiences fear over tinnitus suffers it the most in two areas: Lack of sleep and fear of increasing volume. Here is where a little information can strip tinnitus of its boogeyman classification and more properly label it an irritant.

Sleeping with tinnitus.

There are three simple tricks to getting a decent night’s rest with tinnitus.

Set up your bedroom like a cave. Cool, dark, quiet, and safe.
Set and stick to a daily sleep routine. Stop eating, drinking, and smoking a few hours before bed. Dim the house lights, spend some time relaxing, and hit the sack at the same time every day.
Spend 15 minutes listening to just your tinnitus. I call this the 15 Minute Challenge. While it’s meant to help you habituate to your tinnitus faster, it makes an excellent, drug and device-free sleep aid.

Nope, your tinnitus probably won’t get worse.

Tinnitus is subjective, meaning how loudly you’re perceiving it may be based solely upon how you feel or what you are doing at any given time.

If tinnitus does have a track record, that record proves tinnitus symptoms decrease with time.

Act fast before your morning tinnitus starts to fade.

At the beginning of this article, it was noted that 97% of tinnitus patients adapt, accept, and eventually recover from their tinnitus symptoms. While there is no cure at this time, your condition will soon stop eliciting strong emotional reactions and become a nuisance.

While most sufferers are happy to find out they will see significant improvements in 6-18 months (the average tinnitus habituation period), you should be alarmed.

You probably won’t have the gift of tinnitus to rely on for much more than eighteen months, and that only if you are lucky. So if you want to take advantage of your tinnitus, you’ll need to act now.

Many experts agree it takes about three months to establish a new lifelong habit. So if you want to change your life, stop complaining about your tinnitus and get to work.

Putting your tinnitus in the morning to work.

The best use of morning tinnitus is to turn your first hour of the day into a routine that silences your tinnitus. To do that you’ll need a breakfast of distraction and satisfaction. One that improves your health, reduces your stress, and sets a tempo of constant goal achievement for the whole day.

If you want to take advantage of tinnitus in the morning, however, you will need to have a plan worked out ahead of time.

Introducing the 62 Minute Hour.

For now, you can safely use my morning routine, but feel free to alter it to fit your needs. It’s a part of my tinnitus book, The 15 Minute Challenge.

I call my first hour of the day the 62 minute hour. You may need to readjust your sleep schedule to make room for this routine. Other than that, there’s only one more thing you need to do each night; set a 16-ounce glass of plain water near your alarm clock.

The first two minutes.

Immediately upon waking, spend the next two minutes drinking the glass of water. I’ll warn you, if you fail anything during this hour, it will be this simple task. Some mornings it takes Herculean effort just to reach down and pick up the damn cup. But you must forbid yourself to do anything more until that cup is empty.

Of course, rehydrating immediately upon awakening is excellent for your health. But that is not why you are gulping water first thing in the morning. You see, the task is surprisingly difficult. You will often have to force yourself to finish it within the two minutes allowed.

And most mornings, that 16 ounces of water drowns your tinnitus. Why? Instead of lying still after your alarm has sounded, you have to jump to your feet and get to work. The water drinking (contest?) and time limit serve as a distraction.

Author’s note: Even after years of drinking this water, I still find it hard to finish than a 1,000 piece puzzle. At times, it is an almost unbearable task. Some nights, I stare at that full glass and almost fear having to wake up to it. But, the good news is that my morning tinnitus meets a water grave nearly every dawn.

20 minutes of exercise.

After you finish waterboarding your tinnitus, it is time for some light exercise. Here, the goal is to inflict some light, beneficial discomfort upon your body. Again, the aim is minor pain, but not actual strain. Perhaps yoga is the best example. When you practice even beginner yoga, your mind is forced to concentrate on specific muscles.

Bending yourself into strange positions, holding your body in stressful poses, and being careful not to overstretch or pull a muscle—all require great focus. Fortunately, the slight pain, physical effort, and single-minded dedication leave absolutely no room for other thoughts. As a result, your poor tinnitus never gets a minute of your attention.

20 minutes of self-assessment.

This segment of your 62 minute hour is for taking stock of your physical condition. At this time, collect your Fitbit stats (sleep score and resting heart rate), body weight, and tinnitus perception level data. Click here to learn how to measure your tinnitus. Then, record all this information in a daily journal.

Remember: What gets measured gets done. If you have health goals, you need daily measurements. In a month or two, you’ll be able to note your progress simply by consulting your journal.

If you have any spare time, feel free to use it to plan the rest of your day.

20 minutes of self-improvement.

The last segment of your 62 minute hour is for intellectual self-improvement. Begin by selecting a topic or skill you want to expand your knowledge or abilities. Then create a set of learning objectives that you can progress through. Finally, spend your last 20-minute segment studying, reading, or listening to a podcast or audiobook on your chosen topic.

Here, your choices are endless. You can learn anything if you practice or study it for 20 minutes every day. One of my favorites is listening to an audiobook at 1.5 times the regular speed. The faster pace requires I pay strict attention, further suppresses my tinnitus, and seems to increase my recall of the subject matter.

The power of 62 minutes without morning tinnitus.

You should feel awesome after each session. You’ve hydrated yourself, warmed up your body, conducted a quick self-examination, and sharpened your mind. All while escaping the ringing in your ears.

And to be honest, all because you were trying to escape your morning tinnitus.

Now, use distraction and satisfaction for the rest of your day.

At the very least, a busy morning routine will effectively end your emotional reaction to the ringing in your ear. At best, you may not even notice it until you jump in your vehicle and start your commute.

If there is a potential drawback to the 62 minute hour, it’s mission creep. You can get a lot done in that time. The feeling of personal satisfaction can be astounding. So, you start getting up an hour earlier. Before you know it, you’ve set some new goals—bigger ones. You create plans that require months to a year to achieve—if you stick to just getting up one hour early. Then, you start thinking about getting up two hours earlier and maybe sacrificing some sleep to do it.

One day you realize you are trading lots of sleep for, admittedly, lots of productivity. Now you are getting up 2-3 hours early and making fantastic progress. Chores are getting done, and goals are getting checked off, but can you possibly do even more?

A word of advice. Instead of trading sleep, trade the dead hours in the middle of your day. Unplug the tv. Disconnect from social media. By now, these are the times when you still notice your tinnitus. So why not chase it away with your version of the 62 minute hour?

Morning tinnitus is not a curse; it’s a blessing.

Now you know how to escape the darn noise in your ears. And the methods you use are making you happier, healthier, and more productive. You’ve come to realize tinnitus is your superpower.

But somewhere over your head is a countdown clock. Tinnitus habituation is coming.

Please make the most of your tinnitus before it becomes an unnoticed background sound.

Welcome to Life With Tinnitus

Recent Posts