If you developed tinnitus after smoking, vaping, using nicotine pouches, or increasing your nicotine intake, it is understandable to wonder whether nicotine caused the ringing. The relationship is plausible, but it is more complicated than “nicotine constricts blood vessels, therefore nicotine causes tinnitus.” Nicotine has several effects on the nervous and cardiovascular systems. It can … Read more
If you have recently developed tinnitus, the idea of neurofeedback can sound almost too good to be true: sit in front of a computer, measure your brain activity, and somehow teach the brain to stop noticing the sound. The reality is more complicated. Tinnitus is not simply a sound trapped inside the ear. For many … Read more
If you have tinnitus and spend time around loud music, choosing between musician’s earplugs and ordinary foam earplugs can feel surprisingly complicated. You may have heard that foam plugs “block too much,” while musician’s plugs supposedly protect hearing without making music sound muffled. You may also worry that wearing earplugs could make tinnitus more noticeable. … Read more
Tinnitus and misophonia can be especially confusing when they occur together. One condition makes you hear a sound that does not come from an external source; the other can make specific ordinary sounds trigger an unusually strong emotional or physiological reaction. If chewing, breathing, tapping, clicking, sniffing, or other repetitive sounds suddenly make you feel … Read more
If you have recently developed tinnitus, you may have been told to “relax” or “reduce stress.” That advice can feel frustrating. Tinnitus is a real auditory perception, and being told to calm down can sound as though someone is suggesting the sound is imaginary. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is different from simply being told to … Read more
Hearing a ringing, buzzing, humming, or pressure-like sound in your ear can be frightening, especially when you start reading about Meniere’s disease and wonder whether ordinary tinnitus means something is seriously wrong. The important starting point is this: tinnitus is a symptom, while Meniere’s disease is a specific inner-ear disorder that can include tinnitus among … Read more
Magnesium is often recommended online when someone develops tinnitus. You may have seen claims that magnesium can protect the auditory nerve, improve blood flow to the inner ear, calm the nervous system, or even make ringing disappear. The reality is less dramatic. Magnesium is biologically important to the nervous system and plays a role in … Read more
If tinnitus began during or after COVID-19, it is understandable to wonder whether the infection caused it. The timing can feel especially convincing when the ringing appears alongside brain fog, dizziness, fatigue, headaches, sleep problems, sound sensitivity, or changes in hearing. The medical answer is more nuanced: tinnitus has been reported in people with Long … Read more
If you have recently developed tinnitus and also feel unusually tired, weak, short of breath, light-headed, or aware of a racing heartbeat, it is reasonable to wonder whether iron deficiency or anemia could be involved. The answer is more complicated than “anemia causes ringing.” There is growing evidence that iron-deficiency anemia is associated with a … Read more
If tinnitus keeps you awake, it can feel as though the problem is happening in your ears but the consequences are happening everywhere else. You may lie down exhausted, hear the ringing become more noticeable in the quiet bedroom, and then start watching the clock. After a bad night, you may worry about the next … Read more