How to Silence Your Tinnitus

Many anxiety sufferers experience what feels like an annoying ringing, buzzing, or hissing in their ears that just won’t seem to go away. Some even feel like their ears are blocked. This can become an ongoing problem that affects your everyday life. So, today, we’re going to talk about why you’re experiencing tinnitus and how to overcome it so you can go back to hearing normally again. 

First off, make sure you are getting checked out by your Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor to ensure that nothing is physically wrong with your ears. The ENT doctors are great at being able to examine your ears, run tests, and rule out any issues. Assuming that they confirm that nothing is physically wrong with your ears, then it’s time to shift your focus to your anxiety. 

When I suffered from anxiety, I personally had tinnitus after every panic attack. It felt like there was ringing in my ears and I’d constantly be touching my ear to get rid of it. However, many of my clients have it much more frequently - where it’s present for most or even all of the day.

The first step in getting rid of your tinnitus is to have a basic understanding of your anxiety. OK, so here’s what’s happening: when you’re suffering from anxiety, your fight or flight response is overactive. It’s frequently engaging when you’re not in any danger. That means your body is acting like there is a nearby threat and preparing you to fight the threat or flee to safety. In other words, it’s reacting as if you were being chased by a large barking dog and needed to take off running, even when you’re perfectly safe in the comfort of your own home. 

A good illustration of an overactive and sensitized nervous system is comparing it to a smoke detector. A smoke detector is designed to alert you of smoke or a fire. But what if that smoke detector becomes overly sensitive and starts going off to the slightest thing, like the tiny little puff of smoke after blowing out a candle. That's what's happening with your nervous system. Your nervous system is reacting to dangers and threats that aren’t there. 

OK, so where does tinnitus come in? The reason tinnitus is common with anxiety sufferers is that tinnitus often occurs when our fight or flight response is activated.  Remember, the fight or flight response is designed to enhance our senses and prepare us for immediate action. For our ancestors, this could mean escaping from dangerous predators, like a lion or tiger. In such situations, our bodies are actually able to heighten our hearing, and that’s really important because back then it could have meant the difference between life and death. For instance, detecting the subtle rustle of a tiger in the nearby bushes could allow them just enough opportunity to flee to safety.

Our bodies still have this same type of reaction. So, when you are suffering from anxiety and your fight or flight response is frequently engaging, this leads to your senses being on high alert, including your hearing. That’s why you can notice a persistent ringing, buzzing, or hissing in your ears—this is tinnitus. 

So, to recap, tinnitus is the result of your nervous system being on high alert and enhancing your hearing. This heightened state is what is causing the ringing, buzzing, or hissing sounds you’re experiencing. 

Alright, this brings us to an important point: the cycle of tinnitus and anxiety. Once tinnitus starts, it can cause more anxiety. You hear the ringing or buzzing and start worrying about it, which only increases your anxiety levels and makes the tinnitus worse. It's a vicious cycle that can be hard to break. You might find yourself constantly checking to see if the tinnitus is still there, which only makes you worry about it more and increases your anxiety.

But here's what I want you to walk away from this episode knowing – tinnitus itself is not harmful. It's not a disease and there’s nothing physically wrong with you - instead, it’s just a symptom of your anxiety. It's your body's way of telling you that your nervous system is on high alert and your hearing is enhanced. So I want you to go to bed tonight knowing that there is nothing wrong with your ears. 

Instead, here’s what you need to do: you must shift your focus away from your tinnitus and towards your anxiety. Because again, tinnitus is just a symptom of your anxiety. So, as you desensitize your nervous system and recover from anxiety, the tinnitus is going to go away. It’ll disappear and you’ll never have to deal with it again. 

And trust me, that is going to happen. You will recover and be back to normal. I know this because I have the fortunate perspective of not only fully recovering myself, but also guiding clients from the darkest depths of anxiety back to a place where they have no symptoms. Their anxiety, panic attacks, tinnitus and all other symptoms are completely gone and they are back to living normal, healthy lives. The process that I teach is laid out in the “5-Step Cure to Anxiety and Panic Attacks,” which I’ve put in the link below. It’s completely free and it’ll break down the recovery process.