26 Ways That Helped Me Decrease the Volume of Tinnitus

What Is Tinnitus?

Tinnitus is a permanent ringing in the ear due to the lesion of ear-drum cells after exposure to loud noises.

This leads the brain to “hear” noises that actually don’t exist.

As such, tinnitus is thought to be in most cases, a cognitive problem.

It is said that once you have it, it will never go away.

However, this is not correct. There have been cases of people that managed to get rid of their tinnitus after special sound therapies.

The problem is that tinnitus is such a personal issue, and its cause and treatment depend so much on the individual, that we haven’t yet found a general treatment.

How I Got Tinnitus 

On a tragic day of August 2015, I walked into a club, got drunk, spent 3 hours inside, and when I got out, my life had changed forever.

3 hours.

This is what it took to see the possibility to listen to silence vanishing ever since.

I would often get tinnitus getting out of nightclubs, but I’d also be so drunk that I wouldn’t notice.

The next day, it would have disappeared.

That next morning though, it did not. It stayed. And it has been staying ever since.

In a way, getting tinnitus helped me get much healthier. I stopped smoking weed, stopped drinking, and shifted to a zero-carb diet.

Since both my mental and physical health affect the noise in my ear, tinnitus forced me to lead a healthy life.

While there is no cure yet for tinnitus, you can still take some actions that will help you lessen the noise in your ear.

Mind that each person’s tinnitus is different, and each person will respond differently. I know the tinnitus I got was both psychologically and physically induced. As such, working on the psychological part helped me.

I won’t lie. The sacrifices I have made were huge. I have lost “friends” in the process, I missed parties and a lot of night outs. However, it was definitely worth it and I don’t regret it at all, despite many people trying to convince me otherwise.

If people don’t have tinnitus, they have no idea what the hell they’re talking about.

Without any further ado, here are 26 ways I have decreased the tinnitus in my ears.

26 Ways to Decrease the Volume of Tinnitus 

1. Decrease stress: in my case, tinnitus is directly linked to stress. The following points explain what I have done to decrease its level.

2. Get some sleep. The more I sleep, the lower the tinnitus is. Sleeping for +9 hours enables me to wake up and experience about 5 seconds of silence….before the noise comes back.

3. Exercise: it positively impacts your brain, strengthens your body, releases endorphins that make you happy, helps you sleep better, and decreases stress. No need to say more.

4. Cut out sugar entirely: there isn’t even one positive impact sugar has on your body. When I cut it out, I first switched to a ketogenic diet (which helped a lot at the beginning) and I went completely carnivore after two months or so.

As such, I only eat meat, fish, and eggs and I drink sparkling water.

Nothing more, nothing less.

It got me rid of brain fog, increased energy, considerably reduced anxiety and depression which in turn have helped to deal with the noise.

I have heard a story of a woman who got rid of tinnitus with the lion diet (only beef), but I have not tried it.

5. Cut off alcohol entirely. As you surely know, tinnitus is a problem originating from your brain, not from your ear. Taking care of your brain is the very first step you should take if you want to lessen the noise.

I have noticed that my tinnitus was extremely loud when drunk and got the occasion to confirm the relation with a doctor. In fact, she told me that any addictive substances would increase the noise.

Therefore, I have cut all of them out.

6. Cut off weed: same point as above.

7. Cut off porn: porn is overly stressful (for both men and women), messes up with your sex and social life, and increase relationships expectations which lead to disappointments and…more stress. Cutting it off enabled me to decrease stress and enjoy sex more, after which I rarely think about tinnitus.

8. Spend time touching people: when the quarantine started, I stopped seeing my friend and family and stopped touching people on the same occasion.

I noticed that staying home all day and not seeing anyone increased my stress level and the volume of the noise.

After a while, I was feeling so bad mentally and it was so loud that I said f*** it, and started hugging people again. It made me feel better, happier, and decreased the noise in my ear.

9. Have sex: Same explanation as above

10. Don’t spend your time alone: being social with people help me focus on other things than the noise and decreased stress. I noticed my tinnitus was almost quiet after I spent an evening playing board games with my sisters.

11. Avoid screen time as much as you can: I am actually considering quitting my office job to go work as a barista. Spending so much time on my chair in front of a screen increases stress, prevents me from sleeping well and the fact that I work from home makes me put on some music not to hear the noise, which is annoying and extremely tiring.

12. Be happy: I have noticed that being sad increased the noise in my ear, but that being happy lessened it (which has subsequently been confirmed by science).

Now, of course, no one can choose to suddenly be happy and full of energy, but you still have a share of control over the way you interpret your reality. If you’re positive about life, you’ll naturally start being happier. I know it is hard, but it is worth it.

13. Spend time in nature: spending time in nature enabled me to breathe some fresh air, decreased stress, and being surrounded by noises that naturally cancel the noise in my ears. Furthermore, being back in our natural environment is always comforting and stress-decreasing.

14. Listen to a tinnitus sound therapy on Youtube: some videos really helped me as they matched some noises that I had. Personally, my tinnitus is weird as it keeps on evolving after 4 years. Sounds are different, patterns are different and frequencies are different. These sound therapies also help me fall asleep.

15. Stop using headphones: it seemed to me so natural that I forgot to add it to the list originally. Headphones only weaken your eardrum cells. NEVER wear them again.

16. Stop consuming media content: I did this challenge randomly one day to try if it would impact my mood, stress, and noise, and OH BOY, IT DID.

I am naturally competitive and always compare myself to others (even to presidents and prime-ministers and yes, I know, it is stupid).

For a week, I didn’t read the media, didn’t read any business articles, and didn’t read about stories of more successful people than I am.

I was not only happier but less stressed. Suddenly, the world outside my city did not exist anymore. No global warming, no protests, no virus, no economic downturn, no nothing. I felt much better, happier, and lighter and as a result, the noise decreased.

17. Delete ALL of your social media accounts: they are even worse than the media. No need to explain why.

18. Don’t leave your house if you are not carrying your earplugs with you: even if I had a meeting with the Queen of England, I wouldn’t leave my house if I wasn’t able to find my earplugs. You absolutely need to treat your ears as the number one health priority in your life if you hope to decrease the noise.

19. If you need to wear your earplugs, leave immediately: I used to still go to nightclubs with earplugs on, and leave the venue every 30 minutes or so to rest. Unfortunately, the noise would always come back louder the next day.

The alcohol and lack of sleep didn’t help.

Since I value my health above anything else (sad that I had to end up with tinnitus to do so), I leave immediately when the sound is too high.

Once, I actually asked the guy in charge of the music to decrease the volume. He kindly did.

20. Take care of your mental health: I found myself at a point in my life where I had to follow cognitive-behavioral therapy. It helped me deal with stress in my daily life and lessened the noise. My therapy took 2 years and a half, a lot of effort, and unpleasant moments. But, it was worth it.

21. Move to a sunny place: it boosts vitamin D, decreases chances of being depressed, and overall is excellent for you.

22. Stay hydrated: go figure why.

23. Massage your jaw: since it is connected to your ear, it may help decrease the pressure inside it if your tinnitus is somehow caused by physical pressure against your ear-drum.

24. Practice the “tambour céleste”: I could not find the name of this practice in English, so there it is in French. The tambour céleste is a sort of massage of the ear with some small noises aimed at making your brain and ear more relaxed. Here’s the link.

25: Go to an ear doctor for a complete wax removal: my tinnitus at some point started increasing without me doing anything, so I went to an ear-doctor which removed a big plug of wax from my ear. Tinnitus decreased afterward.

26: go to the sauna: I don’t think the heat has any impact besides the fact that it is good for your body and relax you out.

There are 26 strategies that I have been using.

Mind that other strategies exist and that I still haven’t had the chance to experience yet.

There are:

1. Meditation: I know it would be good for my brain and mind, but I find it hard to meditate with the noise. Some white noise cancellation would probably help.

2. Yoga: yoga has been reported as an efficient method to decrease stress, impacting both the mental and physical of your body.

3. The lion diet: the lion diet is a diet entirely made out of beef, salt, and water. I am still skeptical as to why the lion diet would better help me than my current zero-carb diet. But who knows, if it helped one person, it may help others too.

4. Acupuncture: some people have reported some actual benefits out of acupuncture. I am not well versed in traditional medicine methods, but I believe it is still worth a try.

5. Special sound therapy: some laboratories and treatment facilities are experiencing special sound therapies with long-lasting positive effects. I believe it could work since Youtube tinnitus sound therapies have also helped me.

6. Having a girlfriend: I know it sounds stupid, but I think I’d be less stressed if I had someone to fall asleep next to every night. Loneliness is not good for stress.

7. Cutting salt: from what I know, salt is only as bad as the amount of sugar you eat it with. Since I have cut off all sugar, I am not sure salt has any negative impact on my body, but it may have some on yours.

Have you tried any of these? What was your experience?

Write your answer in the comments and let’s find ways to reduce the noise!

The Bottom Line

Tinnitus is such a complex problem that we haven’t yet found a cure despite the fact it affects hundreds of millions of people throughout the world.

What we do know is that you can have an impact on the noise in your ear if you lead a healthy, stress-free lifestyle.

I hope what was written above can inspire you and help you out with the noise in your ear.

Don’t lose hope. Science advances every day.

It doesn’t mean though, that you can’t experience different methods yourself.

The more we search, the more chances we’ll have to find a cure.

Photo credits: Photo by Jamie Davies on Unsplash