Thousands Are Suffering From Tinnitus Following COVID Vaccination

Although U.S. health agencies are missing in action, these alternative therapies may help improve or resolve the ringing, roaring, whooshing, hissing, humming, or buzzing in your ears.

If you’re waiting for the government to help you with the debilitating tinnitus you developed following COVID-19 vaccination, you have a higher chance of witnessing the first-ever pig take flight.

According to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, more than 26,000 people have reported developing tinnitus after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine—and this number is estimated to reflect only 1 percent of the actual number. Approximately zero people have received compensation from the government.

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, roughly 10 percent to 25 percent of U.S. adults experience some form of tinnitus—making it one of the country’s most common health conditions.

Tinnitus is an often debilitating condition with no approved treatment or cure. It involves hearing sounds without an external source, meaning others can't hear them. While often described as "ringing in the ears," those with tinnitus might also hear roaring, whooshing, hissing, humming, or buzzing in one or both ears. The noise can vary in volume, pitch, and duration, from soft to loud, low to high-pitched, and sporadic to continuous.

These phantom sounds are not caused by the ear but are generated by the brain's auditory cortex—the area responsible for processing sound.

Tinnitus can be triggered by various conditions, including Ménière’s disease, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, heavy metal toxicity, tumors, jaw issues, noise exposure, hearing loss, and certain medications like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g., ibuprofen and aspirin), specific antibiotics, anti-cancer drugs, antidepressants, and vaccinations.

Symptoms of tinnitus can either resolve suddenly or become chronic, potentially leading to issues like sleep deprivation, concentration difficulties, psychological distress, and depression.

Dr. Gregory Poland, director of Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group and editor-in-chief of the journal Vaccine, developed “unrelenting” tinnitus after receiving his second dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine in early 2021 and says it feels like someone “suddenly blew a dog whistle” in his ear.

In an interview with MedPage Today, Dr. Poland said he believes that tens of thousands of people in the United States alone and potentially millions worldwide are struggling with the condition and that more needs to be done to determine the cause and the relief.

“What has been heartbreaking about this, as a seasoned physician, are the emails I get from people that this has affected their life so badly, they have told me they are going to take their own life,” Dr. Poland said.

What has the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention done to address this problem? Nothing.

In a statement to MedPage Today, here’s what Pfizer said:

"We take adverse events, that are voluntarily reported by HCPs [health care providers] and individuals following vaccination with our COVID-19 vaccine, very seriously. Tinnitus cases have been reviewed and no causal association to the Covid-19 vaccine has been established.

“To date, about 3 billion of our COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered globally. It is important to note that serious adverse events that are unrelated to the vaccine are unfortunately likely to occur at a similar rate as they would in the general population."

In other words, Pfizer is pretending that thousands of individuals just randomly woke up one morning after getting vaccinated with tinnitus. Moderna hasn’t acknowledged the issue at all. Both have adopted the “if we ignore the problem, maybe it will disappear” approach and have no incentive to do otherwise.

As is the case with all other adverse events, nobody knew when they were signing up for the shot or were forced to get vaccinated (for those who didn’t want to) that they would be trading in the equivalent of a common cold for a lifetime of motocross playing out in their heads.

Since there are currently no recommended treatments or approved drugs to treat tinnitus, medicines such as sedatives, antihistamines, antidepressants, local anesthetics, and antipsychotics are commonly prescribed for treatment. Yet these drugs can cause short- and long-term systemic side effects. 

Here are some alternative treatments and therapies you may want to consider if you’re one of the millions of people with tinnitus:

Infrared Therapy

A peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Personalized Medicine found that low-level infrared light therapy could relieve tinnitus.

Over four weeks, researchers evaluated treatment for tinnitus in more than 100 men and women aged 18 to 65 whose condition either had an unknown cause or were unresponsive to treatment and divided them randomly into 10 groups. Researchers investigated personalized treatment options involving low-level laser therapy (LLLT) using red and infrared light in the inner ear or cochlea, where tinnitus often occurs, and LLLT combined with other treatments, such as vacuum therapy and drug therapy.

LLLT uses a narrow spectral width of light close to infrared to promote tissue regeneration, reduce inflammation, and relieve pain. Whereas a high-powered laser is used to cut and destroy tissue, low-level near-infrared light penetrates more deeply than ultraviolet or visible light and doesn’t harm living tissue.

In the study, researchers looked at both red and infrared light laser therapy. Red light is visible and uses wavelengths of 630 to 700 nanometers (nm). Infrared light, at wavelengths from 800 to 1,000 nm, is invisible and penetrates deeper into the body.

Results showed LLLT with infrared wavelengths outperformed the placebo, with lasting effects observed 15 days post-treatment. The most effective treatments involved extended light therapy sessions on the cochlea and middle ear, from six to 15 minutes.

Electrical Ear Canal Stimulation

In a proof-of-concept study published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, researchers found that electrical stimulation through the ear canal decreased loudness and tinnitus-induced distress in just three days, especially for women and those with tinnitus affecting both ears. Here’s how it works:

Using an electrode placed in the ear, 66 patients underwent 10 minutes of electrical stimulation for three days while researchers monitored how it affected their symptoms. They analyzed several factors, including the frequency of the stimulation current, the sequence of applying different currents, the severity of tinnitus at admission, whether tinnitus affected one or both ears, sex, and age of the patients.