The cause of tinnitus, a constant ringing or buzzing in the ears, is generally unclear. However, there is one thing experts agree on: you are more likely to experience tinnitus if you also are dealing with hearing loss. Up to 90% of individuals who suffer from tinnitus also have hearing loss according to HIAA.
Your lifestyle, age, and genetics can all take part in the development of hearing loss as you probably know. Frequently, mild instances of hearing loss go unnoticed and hearing loss, in general, isn’t always evident. Even minor cases of hearing loss will raise your likelihood of tinnitus, making the situation even worse.
It’s Not a Cure, But Hearing Aids Can Help Manage Tinnitus
Tinnitus doesn’t have a cure. However, your symptoms can be decreased and your life can be improved by using hearing aids to address your hearing loss and tinnitus. In fact, one study showed that up to 60 percent of tinnitus patients saw relief when they wore hearing aids, with 22 percent showing appreciable relief.
When you can suddenly hear external sounds better because hearing aids have raised the volume, your tinnitus symptoms will go into the background. The good news is that there are other, more sophisticated options beyond just conventional hearing aids to manage the symptoms related to tinnitus.
Types of Specialty Hearing Aids to Decrease Tinnitus Symptoms
Hearing aids work by collecting natural sounds from the world around you and boosting them to a level that allows you to hear. Even though it might be basic in design, that amplification of noise, be it the hum of a dinner party or the clank of a ceiling fan, is crucial in training your brain to receive certain stimulations again.
You can take an even more complete approach to your tinnitus treatment by enhancing hearing aids with other strategies, like stress reduction, sound stimulation, and counseling.
Some hearing aid makers even use the irregular rhythm of fractal tones to minimize the symptoms of tinnitus. The persistent tone of tinnitus can be interrupted by the irregular tones of these inconsistent rhythms.
Other specialized devices attempt to blend your tinnitus in with the normal sounds you’re hearing. This strategy will commonly use a white noise signal that a hearing expert can adjust to ensure proper calibration for your ear and your condition.
Whether you use sound therapy, blending, or a white noise mechanism, all of these specialized devices have a common objective of distracting the user away from the ringing or buzzing of tinnitus.
It’s true that there isn’t any cure for tinnitus, but for at least some, hearing aids help reduce symptoms and improve your quality of life.
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References
- https://www.hearingloss.org/wp-content/uploads/HLAA_HearingLoss_Facts_Statistics.pdf?pdf=FactStats
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17956798
- https://www.ata.org/managing-your-tinnitus/treatment-options/hearing-aids
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6197965