The cause of tinnitus, a continual ringing or buzzing in the ears, has long perplexed scientists. Hearing specialists, however, do agree that tinnitus is more prevalent in people who also have hearing loss.
As you probably know, your age, genetics, and lifestyle can all play a role in the progression of hearing loss. And while many of us think of hearing loss as being obvious, the reality is that some mild hearing loss can go unnoticed. Still worse, even a slight case of hearing loss increases your risk and likelihood of developing tinnitus.
Hearing aids can’t cure tinnitus, but they can help manage the symptoms
Tinnitus can’t be cured. However, hearing aids can manage both hearing loss and tinnitus in ways that can minimize symptoms and enhance one’s quality of life. There are some pretty remarkable similarities between tinnitus and hearing loss, as a matter of fact.
The frequency range that a person loses hearing in is often in sync with the pitch of their tinnitus symptoms. For example, somebody who hears high-pitched ringing from tinnitus might suffer from high-frequency hearing loss. Some people believe this parallel to be a consequence of the brain attempting to compensate for a lack of acoustic activation at that level by generating a similarly pitched tone of its own.
A traditional hearing aid can essentially hide the ringing or buzzing connected with tinnitus by replacing it with the appropriate sounds. Fortunately, tinnitus symptoms can be treated in other more advanced ways than traditional hearing aids.
Lessen symptoms of tinnitus with specialized hearing aids
Hearing aids work by picking up natural sounds from the environment around you and amplifying them to a level that allows you to hear. Even though it may be simple in design, that amplification of noise, be it the din of a dinner party or the rattle of a ceiling fan, is essential in training your brain to experience particular stimulations again.
But you can augment those amplification efforts with a blend of other techniques like counseling, sound stimulation, and stress reduction for a more complete approach to treatment.
Some hearing aid manufacturers endeavor to reduce tinnitus symptoms with the use of the irregular rhythms of fractal tones. Tinnitus sufferers usually hear tones that are constant and regular which can sometimes be disrupted by the irregular rhythms of these fractal tones. While white noise devices are available, the most common fractal tones are similar to wind chimes that supply a pleasant sound that overwhelms the ringing.
Other specialized devices try to mix your tinnitus in with the outside sounds you’re hearing. A white noise generator will be used in this approach, which can be fine-tuned by a hearing specialist to help decrease your specific tinnitus symptoms..
Whether it’s through sound therapy, blending, or a white noise mechanism, each of these specialized devices has a common goal of distracting the user away from the ringing or buzzing of tinnitus.
Though tinnitus has no cure, hearing aids can help decrease the intensity of the symptoms and enhance quality of life, which is an alluring feature for the 50 million people who use hearing aids.
Want to discuss your tinnitus with a hearing specialist?
For more info on decreasing tinnitus symptoms, check out our tinnitus section or call for a consultation.
