The Tinnitus-Anxiety Cycle: How Stress Amplifies Sound Perception
Most people with tinnitus know stress makes it worse. What they don't know is why, and that the sound itself probably hasn't changed at all.
Jennifer McGlothlin, Au.D., a HearingLoss.com®-Certified audiologist, breaks down the science behind the tinnitus-anxiety cycle: how stress physically rewires the brain's response to sound, why two people with identical tinnitus can have completely different experiences, and why fighting or avoiding the ringing tends to make things worse, not better.
She also explains what the research actually says about breaking the cycle, from cognitive behavioral therapy and tinnitus retraining therapy to the daily habits that can lower your stress response and reduce tinnitus reactivity over time.
If the ringing in your ears feels loudest when life feels hardest, this is worth reading.