In my opinion (and it's just that), you can take a little bit of cold medicine which *may* affect tinnitus if your cold is really bad. What I usually do is reserve it for if my cold is really bad. Then, I try to stick to just decongestants as they aren't so bad on your auditory system. With that in mind though, I would think that taking a little bit of cold medication for a short duration will not hurt your tinnitus in any way in the long term. You would have to be worried if you keep taking the stuff for months on end.