Cochrane Review, 2020
A review of the published trials of cognitive behavioral therapy concluded it may reduce the negative impact of tinnitus on quality of life. CBT carries the strongest support in the clinical guidelines.
About tinnitus
A guide to what tinnitus is, why it happens, and what can help, written for anyone who keeps hearing a sound the room cannot explain.
Last reviewed September 2026
What is tinnitus?
Tinnitus is the experience of hearing a sound when nothing around you is making one. People describe ringing, buzzing, hissing, humming, and whooshing. It can be steady or come and go, soft or loud, in one ear, both ears, or somewhere in the middle of the head.
You are in very large company. In a large national survey, about one in ten US adults reported experiencing tinnitus in the past year. It is one of the most common things people bring to an audiologist, and clinics see it every day.
Most people with tinnitus have some change in their hearing as well, sometimes one they had not noticed yet. That connection is useful, because it points to where care usually starts, with a hearing test.
Why does it happen?
Your ears and your brain hear together. The ear picks up sound and the brain makes sense of it. When the ear sends less signal than usual, after loud noise, with age, or during something as simple as a wax blockage, the brain turns up its own sensitivity while it adjusts.
Tinnitus is widely understood as part of that adjustment, a sound the brain produces while it adapts to a change in your hearing.
Tinnitus is a sign that something in your hearing has changed, and finding what changed is the first step.
What can set it off?
Many everyday things can start tinnitus or turn its volume up. The common ones are
- Loud sound, at work, at concerts, or through headphones over the years
- Hearing change that comes with age, usually starting around the sixties
- Earwax buildup or a blockage, one of the simplest causes to resolve
- Stress and low mood, which can make tinnitus you already have feel louder
- A knock to the head or neck, worth mentioning even if it felt minor
- Some medicines, including high doses of aspirin
Less often, tinnitus traces back to blood flow changes, jaw joint trouble, or an inner ear condition such as Meniere's disease. An evaluation is how you find out which cause is behind yours, and a few of them, like earwax, can be sorted out on the spot.
Are there different types?
Yes, and naming yours helps your clinician move faster.
Subjective. A sound only you can hear, by far the most common kind.
Pulsatile. Beats in time with your heart. Mention it to a doctor early, because it sometimes has a blood flow cause a doctor can look into.
Somatic. Shifts when you move your jaw or neck, pointing toward muscles and joints.
Objective. A rare kind a clinician can hear too during an exam.
What happens at an evaluation?
An evaluation is calm and painless. The audiologist asks when the sound started and what it is like, looks in your ears, and runs a hearing test.
Many clinics use a short questionnaire, the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory, to measure how much the sound is affecting you. That number becomes your baseline, something to compare against once care is underway.
How does it touch daily life?
Tinnitus tends to show up loudest in quiet moments. Many people notice it most when falling asleep, reading, or concentrating, and living with a constant sound can wear on your mood over time.
All of that belongs in the conversation with your clinician. Sleep, focus, and mood are part of what tinnitus care works on, in the same plan as the sound itself.
There are treatments that can make tinnitus less bothersome and make it fade into the background, and the evidence behind them is worth a closer look.
What have studies found?
The short version of the research, with each finding tied to its source. The full detail lives on the treatment pages.
TENT-A3 trial, Nature Communications
Lenire is authorized by the FDA through the De Novo pathway for adults with at least moderate tinnitus. In the trial of 112 people, most participants with moderate or worse tinnitus reported a clinically meaningful improvement in their tinnitus score.
Speech, Language and Hearing, 2025
A randomized trial of the Oto app was published in 2025, and a UK trial comparing the app against therapist delivered CBT finished in December 2024, and its results have not yet been published in a journal. Oto sponsored the trials, and Oto staff helped design the UK trial, which also received government funding from Innovate UK.
What helps?
Each option has its own page here, with the evidence written out the same way for every treatment so you can compare them calmly.
Support when things feel heavy
Tinnitus can take a toll on sleep and mood, and many people find the hardest part is the wearing effect over time. Talking to someone helps.
The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is free, confidential, and open 24 hours a day across the US. Call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org.
Your doctor or audiologist can help too, and many tinnitus clinics work alongside counselors who understand this specific kind of strain.
The research behind this page. Bhatt and colleagues, JAMA Otolaryngology, 2016. Fuller and colleagues, Cochrane Review CD012614, 2020. Phillips and McFerran, Cochrane Review CD007330, 2010. American Academy of Otolaryngology clinical practice guideline on tinnitus. TENT-A3 trial, Nature Communications, 2024.
Ready to talk it through with someone?
Every clinic listed on Tinnitus Support treats tinnitus. Search your city, see which treatments each clinic offers, and read what other patients have said.
Find a tinnitus clinicThis page is for general information about tinnitus. It does not replace advice from an audiologist or doctor who has assessed your hearing. Treatment suitability and results vary from person to person.