If you have been researching your Tinnitus condition, there’s a good chance that you have come across a trick or tricks that can stop your Tinnitus. From finger drumming to something to do with raising your tongue to manipulating your neck, there’s a lot of tricks touted out there. Some promise results immediately or in just 30 seconds. But do any of these stop tinnitus tricks work? Let’s find out. Please also note that I have not personally tried these Tinnitus tricks when I had Tinnitus, as I hadn’t come across them then. I am only presenting findings based on what people have provided as feedback, mostly in the form of comments at public places on the Internet.
The Internet’s Stop Tinnitus Tricks
Finger Drumming or Finger Tapping on the Back of Your Head
The source or origin of this trick remedy is not clearly known. Some call it the Reddit tinnitus trick. It requires a person suffering from Tinnitus to make a drumming sort of motion on the back of their head, as shown in the video below. The process must be repeated 40-50 times. This can provide Tinnitus relief, albeit temporarily. Some people report complete silence while some say that their Tinnitus reduced considerably. The video then advises the user to repeat the process as many times as they want in a day, to continue to experience Tinnitus relief.
What is Your Tinnitus Handicap Score?
Calculate your THI Score in about 2-3 Minutes
Should you try this trick? There’s no harm in trying as far as I know, as long as the drumming pressure is gentle. It can actually provide Tinnitus relief that lasts anywhere from 5 seconds to as much as 20 minutes at a time, based on comments on YouTube videos and Reddit threads about this method. A lot of people have also said that it didn’t work at all. In some cases, it can provide delayed relief, where a period of silence kicks in about 10-15 minutes after the finger drumming.
The theory behind this trick is that the drumming or tapping sort of performs a self-massage for your occipital muscles. It is believed that this can then help improve blood flow into the ears. This theory however has no medical proof. If it does work for you, you can probably use it when you really need some quiet, like before you go to sleep for example.
How Severe is Your Tinnitus?
Find out by using this THI (Tinnitus Handicap Inventory) Scoring Calculator
Ear Pulling
This is another very popular stop Tinnitus trick featured on AskDoctorJo’s YouTube channel. In the video, she demonstrates how one can hold the place where the earlobe meets the ear to then pull their ear up and away, 5 times in succession, quickly. She emphasizes that the trick lies in the quick pulling and not in the amount of force applied. She in fact advises people to pull very gently. One must also remove earrings, hearing aids or cochlear implants before performing this motion.
She goes on to say that she only suffers from occasional tinnitus and that her Tinnitus was caused by listening to loud music when young. And, this trick of hers gives her quick relief that lasts 2-3 weeks. She goes on to say that this trick initially gave her relief for only 1 or 2 days at a time. Over time, it began to give her relief that lasted 2-3 weeks.
Jo does not provide a theory as to why this stop Tinnitus trick could work. She only guesses that it changes the vibrations in the ear canal that sort of resets everything in the ear. While that doesn’t sound very reassuring, it is a harmless trick to try, as long as you pull gently and just 5 times in a row.
Zygomatic Hand Pressure
This isn’t a Tinnitus trick. It’s actually a great way to seek relief if you are suffering from a certain very specific type of Tinnitus called MEM Tinnitus. MEM Tinnitus is an objective form of Tinnitus caused by muscle spasms in the ear. Objective Tinnitus or Pulsatile Tinnitus is Tinnitus where others may be able to hear the clicking, hissing or creaking sounds that you hear as well, if they listen with their ear in close proximity to yours.
You can read more about how to apply Zygomatic hand pressure in this post we wrote about MEM tinnitus.
Other Tricks that Sell You Supplements
Besides the YouTube or Reddit stop Tinnitus tricks mentioned above, you might come across other tricks that beat around the bush and eventually sell you supplements. These are all scams. No supplement can cure your Tinnitus. Tricks of this nature will usually lure you into their pages with Clickbait titles. They will talk about “water bottle tinnitus trick”, “weird tricks”, “this trick left the doctor speechless” etc. Again, if you are being sold supplements in the end, the trick is just a scam that you must not just try, but carefully avoid.
