Ginkgo Biloba for Tinnitus: Does It Work, and Is It Safe?

Updated 2026-10-08 · VitaHarmony Lab Editorial Team

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Ginkgo biloba is the single most common ingredient in supplements sold for ringing ears. It shows up in SharpEar, SonoVive, Ring Quiet Plus and Zeneara, among others. If you are considering any of them, it helps to know what decades of ginkgo research found.

Why ginkgo became a tinnitus herb

Ginkgo leaf extract has been used in Europe for circulation and memory concerns for decades. The theory for tinnitus is that better blood flow and antioxidant effects in the inner ear and brain might reduce the ringing. It is a plausible idea, and it led to many clinical trials.

What the trials found

The results, overall, are disappointing:

• The NCCIH summarizes that ginkgo has not been shown to be helpful for tinnitus in well-designed studies.
• A Cochrane systematic review of ginkgo for tinnitus found that the evidence was of low or very low certainty and did not show a meaningful benefit (PubMed search).
• The 2014 tinnitus guideline from the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery recommended against ginkgo for persistent, bothersome tinnitus (PubMed listing).

Some smaller trials reported improvements, often in people whose tinnitus came with memory or circulation problems. Those studies tended to be lower quality, and larger, better-controlled trials did not confirm them.

Ginkgo safety: the part sales pages skip

According to the NCCIH:

• Ginkgo may increase bleeding risk, which matters for people on warfarin, aspirin, clopidogrel or other blood thinners, and before surgery.
• Side effects can include headache, stomach upset, dizziness and allergic skin reactions.
• Raw or roasted ginkgo seeds are toxic and can cause seizures; supplements use leaf extract.
• Long-term animal studies of a ginkgo extract raised cancer questions; the relevance to humans is unclear.

Many ear formulas pair ginkgo with St. John's wort, which has its own long list of drug interactions (NCCIH). That combination is worth extra caution.

Look at Ring Quiet Plus (ginkgo, bacopa, St. John's wort)

Ginkgo and dizziness

Ginkgo has also been studied for vertigo. Some trials report modest benefits, but reviews describe the evidence as limited (PubMed search). Our vertigo supplement guide covers the options for dizziness in more depth.

Standardized extract vs whole leaf

Most clinical studies used a standardized ginkgo leaf extract, commonly called EGb 761, made to contain set amounts of flavone glycosides and terpene lactones. Supplements labeled simply "ginkgo biloba" or "maidenhair tree" may not match that composition, and the ear formulas we reviewed do not publish their ginkgo dose or standardization. So even the modest positive findings from some trials cannot be assumed to carry over to a branded blend.

Ginkgo in the ear formulas we cover

If you still want to try ginkgo

1. Get your tinnitus evaluated first, especially if it is one-sided or pulsing.
2. Share your medication list with a doctor or pharmacist. Blood thinners are the biggest concern.
3. Choose a product that publishes the full label. Of the ginkgo formulas we cover, SharpEar and Ring Quiet Plus list all their named ingredients; Zeneara names only three of eight.
4. Give it a fixed trial inside the money-back window, and keep a symptom diary so your decision is based on records, not memory.
5. Stop before surgery and tell your surgical team.

Compare SharpEar's eight-ingredient formula

Why do so many people still say ginkgo helped?

Tinnitus naturally rises and falls. People tend to start a new remedy when the ringing is at its worst, and some improvement afterward is likely with or without the product, a pattern researchers call regression to the mean. Expectation also plays a role: in placebo-controlled tinnitus trials, a meaningful share of people on placebo report feeling better. Neither effect means the experience is imagined; it means a single person's story cannot tell whether the herb made the difference. That is exactly why randomized, placebo-controlled trials matter, and why their mostly negative results for ginkgo carry more weight than individual reports.

Better-supported options to pair with or instead of ginkgo

• Hearing aids for people with hearing loss.
• Cognitive behavioral therapy for tinnitus.
• Sound enrichment, especially at night.
• Hearing protection in noisy places.

These are explained in our natural tinnitus remedies guide.

Bottom line on ginkgo

Ginkgo is the most researched herb for tinnitus, and that research has mostly come back negative. It is not dangerous for most healthy adults, but it is not harmless for people on blood thinners. If ginkgo is the main reason you are drawn to an ear supplement, set your expectations accordingly.

Sources consulted: nccih.nih.gov, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.