While there is no known cure for ringing in the ears caused by tinnitus, treatments are available to decrease its effects on sleep and other areas of a person’s life. If persistent ringing in the ears is bothersome enough to affect sleep, it’s important to work with a doctor to address what may be causing tinnitus and to find relief.
Up to 12 million adults in the U.S. report that tinnitus disrupts their daily life and the symptoms of tinnitus can become difficult to ignore at bed time. In fact, ear ringing affects the sleep of around 10% of U.S. adults in any given year.
What Is Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is not considered a disease, but rather a common symptom of conditions related to how the body processes sounds. While temporary tinnitus is not often associated with an underlying health issue, chronic tinnitus can be.
People experience tinnitus in a variety of ways. It’s often reported as an unpleasant ringing, buzzing, hissing, or whooshing sound that occurs in one or both ears. While the sounds may seem to be coming from a distance or right next to a person’s head, these sounds are actually created by the brain.
Researchers believe that tinnitus is the brain’s attempt to make up for sounds it can no longer hear. Essentially, when a specific frequency of sound is no longer detected, the brain may attempt to fill in this gap with a sound of its own. The pitch of the ringing can be low or high and is thought to match the gap in hearing.
How Tinnitus Affects Sleep
Ringing in the ears tends to be more pronounced in quiet environments, such as a bedroom at night. In fact, up to half of individuals with tinnitus report that the ringing in their ears at night makes it difficult to sleep. These disturbances can even contribute to the development of insomnia.
When tinnitus affects sleep, it can lead to sleep deprivation. Not getting enough sleep can impact daytime functioning by making it more difficult to focus and affecting a person’s mood.
Ways to Stop the Ringing in Your Ears at Night
Ringing in the ears tends to be more pronounced in quiet environments, such as a bedroom at night. In fact, up to half of individuals with tinnitus report that the ringing in their ears at night makes it difficult to sleep. These disturbances can even contribute to the development of insomnia.
When tinnitus affects sleep, it can lead to sleep deprivation. Not getting enough sleep can impact daytime functioning by making it more difficult to focus and affecting a person’s mood.
Ways to Stop the Ringing in Your Ears at Night
There is no cure for tinnitus, though treatment for hearing loss can reduce symptoms for around 50% of people with tinnitus related to lost hearing. There are also treatments available that can help people manage their symptoms and improve both their sleep and quality of life.
Sound Therapy
A common treatment for improving sleep in people with tinnitus uses sounds to reduce the effects of nighttime ear ringing.
Sound therapy involves playing simple and calming sounds such as sounds from water or a simulated nighttime environment. Also called sound masking, treatment can help a person shift their focus from ringing in the ears to a more pleasant sound. Using a tabletop sound generator at night may mask ear ringing, especially in people with mild tinnitus.
Counseling
There are several psychological treatments that can help people cope with the symptoms of tinnitus. These therapies focus on changing the way a person thinks and behaves in response to the ringing in their ears. Therapies include cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), relaxation training, biofeedback, and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).
In some cases, counseling may be combined with a device that helps the brain learn to interpret the sounds of tinnitus as normal background noise. This type of treatment is called tinnitus retraining therapy and is typically provided within a specialized tinnitus treatment center.
Other Treatments
Additional treatments may be given to reduce tinnitus, treat its underlying causes, or address complications such as anxiety, depression, and sleep loss.
- Supplements: Some people see improvements in the symptoms of tinnitus from using supplements like ginkgo biloba or melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone important for sleep that is available over-the-counter as a sleep aid.
- Medications: Doctors may recommend medications to treat tinnitus or associated conditions. For example, people with tinnitus may experience depression or anxiety and medications to treat these conditions may help people cope with their symptoms and sleep better at night.
- Sleep position: Some experts suggest that people with tinnitus elevate their head during sleep. This sleeping position may decrease congestion in the sinuses and make it harder to notice ringing in the ears.
To reduce the impact of tinnitus on sleep, people can take steps to improve their sleep habits, also called sleep hygiene. Improving sleep habits involves keeping a regular sleep schedule, taking time to relax before bed, and avoiding activities that interfere with sleep, such as using technology in the last few hours before bedtime.
What Causes Tinnitus?
The cause of tinnitus is often related to changes in the ear or other parts of the brain’s auditory system. Tinnitus is most often associated with a loss of hearing and can be an early sign of hearing loss. Age-related changes in the inner ear, infections, or medications can cause hearing loss accompanied by tinnitus.
Intense or prolonged exposure to loud noises can also damage parts of the inner ear and contribute to tinnitus. Some occupations have a higher risk of developing tinnitus due to exposure to loud sounds, such as construction workers, musicians, and people in the military. These individuals are encouraged to limit ear damage by using ear protection at work.
In addition to hearing loss, there are many other known causes of tinnitus.
- Temporomandibular joint disorders: The temporomandibular joint is in the jaw, located next to the ear canal and other parts of the auditory system. Disorders or injuries affecting this joint or the surrounding muscles can lead to tinnitus.
- Medications: Tinnitus can be a side effect of hundreds of medications, including certain anti-anxiety medications, antidepressants, antibiotics, and drugs used in cancer treatment. Ringing in the ears can occur both when someone starts taking a medication or when they stop taking it.
- Blockages or sinus congestion: The buildup of earwax or other debris in the ear canal can cause pressure in the ear and lead to tinnitus. Congestion due to a sinus infection, cold, or flu can cause temporary tinnitus.
Other health conditions linked to tinnitus include:
- Cardiovascular disease
- Hormone changes
- Thyroid conditions
- Hardening of the bones in the middle ear (otosclerosis)
- Tumors affecting the brain’s auditory system
While tinnitus is not often associated with a serious health issue, it can still be disruptive to both day and nighttime activities.
When to Talk to a Doctor
Anyone having difficulty sleeping due to ringing in the ears should consult with their doctor. Although tinnitus can’t be cured, working with a doctor can help people find treatments to improve their sleep and boost their overall quality of life.
References
About The Author
Staff Writer, Sleep Health
Amielle has a doctorate degree in neuroscience from Emory University and has dedicated her career to science communication, news coverage, and academic writing and editing. Based in Seattle, she has been published in the journal Hearing Research, written for science websites, and has worked as a research scientist at the University of Washington. Amielle loves to dig into the latest research on the brain, sleep, and behavior. When she is not writing, researching, or editing, she hosts a comedy podcast on neuroscience.
- POSITION: Side Sleeper
- TEMPERATURE: Neutral Sleeper
- CHRONOTYPE: Lion
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