After a car accident, a fall, or a hard hit on the field, most people expect the headache. What surprises them is the ringing. Tinnitus is one of the most common lingering complaints after a concussion, and understanding why helps you know what to do about it.
How a head injury sets ears ringing
A concussion is the brain moving violently inside the skull, and your hearing system has hardware on both sides of that event:
- The inner ear is delicate machinery embedded in the skull's temporal bone. The forces of an impact, or the pressure wave from a blast or airbag, can damage the tiny hair cells of the cochlea or the membranes around them.
- The auditory pathways in the brain can be disrupted even when the ear itself is fine. Tinnitus can arise from the brain's sound-processing centers misfiring or "filling in" after the injury.
- Neck and jaw involvement. Whiplash-type injuries affect muscles and joints near the ear; this "somatosensory" tinnitus sometimes changes when you move your jaw or neck, a useful clue for diagnosis.
Post-concussion tinnitus often comes with company: sound sensitivity, muffled hearing, dizziness or trouble concentrating.
Does it go away?
Often, yes, many cases fade over weeks to months as the injury heals. But persistent cases deserve evaluation rather than endurance, especially if the ringing comes with hearing loss or balance problems. A hearing evaluation establishes what, if anything, was damaged, and separates ear-based from brain-based causes as far as possible.
Managing it in the meantime
The playbook overlaps with tinnitus management generally: background sound instead of silence, good sleep, limited caffeine, hearing aids if hearing loss is present, and masking or retraining approaches for stubborn cases. Protecting your ears from further loud exposure while you recover matters too.
If ringing has followed you home from a head injury and hasn't left, come see us, we'll test your hearing, document where things stand and build a plan for relief.