Imagine a ticking clock in a quiet room. At first, it’s impossible to ignore—the rhythmic tick-tock-tick-tock demanding attention. But then, as I get lost in a book or a conversation, something strange happens. The ticking is still there, but I don’t hear it anymore. It fades into the background, no longer relevant.

That’s exactly what happened with my tinnitus.

For a long time, I believed that to stop suffering from tinnitus, I needed to actively do something—distract myself, practice mindfulness, or engage in exercises to “tune it out.” But the real answer wasn’t about doing something; it was about forgetting that there was anything to fix in the first place.

The Role of Brain Plasticity

Tinnitus itself wasn’t the real problem. The problem was how I was thinking about it.

Scientific research has recently shown that the brain is highly adaptable, a concept known as neuroplasticity. This means that our brains are constantly rewiring themselves based on our habits, thoughts, and focus. If we repeatedly pay attention to tinnitus, our brain strengthens the neural pathways that amplify its perception. However, if we shift our focus and allow tinnitus to become irrelevant, those neural connections weaken, and the brain learns to filter it out, just as it does with countless other background noises.

When I used to constantly check, analyse, and wonder, “Is it louder today?” Or if I was getting angry and frustrated about it, I was reinforcing its presence. My brain, trying to be helpful, kept tinnitus in focus because I had inadvertently trained it to treat the sound as important.

But here’s what I discovered: the people who are not bothered by tinnitus aren’t trying to ignore it. They’ve simply given up caring about it. It’s not something they resist, fight, or even manage. It’s just there—until it isn’t.

Right now, as you’re reading this, how many sounds have you not been paying attention to? The hum of a fridge, distant traffic, the rustling of your clothes? They didn’t disappear. Your brain just stopped caring about them.

This is the power of neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to rewire itself based on what we focus on and what we let go. When something is no longer relevant to our experience, the brain naturally filters it out. This ability explains why some people habituate to tinnitus so effectively, while others struggle with it for years.

How I Trained My Brain to Ignore Tinnitus

At first, I tried to ignore it, but that only made it more noticeable. It was like being told, “Don’t think of a pink elephant.” Of course, that’s the first thing that pops into the mind. The harder I pushed tinnitus away, the closer it seemed to come.

I visited my GP and he checked that there was nothing to be done medically. Basically, I would need to learn to live with it.

I decided to take a fresh approach. Instead of resisting, I adopted a “So what?” attitude. When I heard it, I acknowledged it with a shrug: “Oh, there it is.” Then I carried on as if it didn’t matter—because, truly, it didn’t.

Over time, my brain learned that tinnitus was no more important than the hum of my fridge. And just like that, it faded into irrelevance.

Another shift that helped was changing the way I thought about tinnitus. If I told myself, “I have tinnitus,” I made it personal—it became part of my identity. Instead, I began to think of it as something happening in the background: “Oh, there’s that sound again.”

This subtle change created distance between me and the experience. The less personal it felt, the less control it had over me.

I also stopped measuring and checking. Every time I asked, “Is it better? Is it worse?” I was reinforcing tinnitus as something that needed to be monitored. My brain then obliged by keeping it at the forefront of my awareness.

So I let go of keeping track. I treated it like a car alarm going off in the distance—annoying for a moment, but not worth my attention.

The Science Behind Habituation

Research has shown that habituation is the key to tinnitus relief. Habituation is the process by which the brain learns to ignore repetitive, non-threatening stimuli. It’s the same reason why people living near train tracks stop noticing the rumbling sound of passing trains over time. Their brains recognise that the noise is neither useful nor dangerous and automatically filter it out.

Studies in tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) have demonstrated that reducing emotional distress and shifting focus away from tinnitus leads to habituation. The brain stops treating it as an important signal, and over time, it becomes background noise—just like the ticking clock I mentioned earlier.

One of the most powerful shifts was embracing the “Who cares?” response. I used to react with frustration: “Why won’t this stop?!” But over time, I started responding differently. If tinnitus flared up, I told myself: “Oh well. That’s boring.” The less I reacted, the more irrelevant it became.

Practical Steps That Helped Me

1. Focusing on Other Sounds – Instead of trying to block tinnitus, I became more aware of other sounds around me. This helped retrain my brain to shift its attention naturally.
2. Letting Go of the Need for Silence – I stopped fearing quiet environments and learned to feel at ease even when I noticed tinnitus.
3. Reframing My Thoughts – Instead of seeing tinnitus as a problem, I saw it as just another background noise that my brain could learn to ignore.
4. Trusting My Brain’s Ability to Adapt – I reminded myself that my brain already filters out countless sounds every day, and tinnitus could become one of them.

What Happened When I Stopped Caring

Something remarkable happened when I stopped caring.

My brain, always eager to optimise, began filtering tinnitus out of my awareness. Not because I forced it to, but because it no longer served a purpose.

And when I did notice it? It didn’t matter. Because, just like the ticking clock, it’s only loud when I listen for it.

Final Thoughts

So the real question isn’t “How do I get rid of tinnitus?” but rather, “What if it doesn’t matter?”

And once I stopped asking the question, I already had the answer.

Understanding the power of neuroplasticity and the brain’s ability to habituate and filter gave me the confidence to stop fearing tinnitus. It no longer controls my life, and I hope that by sharing my experience, others can find the same relief.