The cause of tinnitus, a persistent ringing or buzzing in the ears, is generally unclear. But one thing we know for sure is that if you have hearing loss your chance of experiencing tinnitus goes up. Up to 90% of individuals who experience tinnitus also have hearing loss according to HIAA.
As you most likely know, your genetics, age, and lifestyle can all be involved in the development of hearing loss. Often, minor instances of hearing loss go undetected and hearing loss, in general, isn’t always obvious. Even minor cases of hearing loss will raise your chance of tinnitus, making the situation even worse.
It’s Not a Cure, But Hearing Aids Can Help Manage Tinnitus
Tinnitus has no cure. However, hearing aids can treat both hearing loss and tinnitus in ways that can minimize symptoms and improve one’s quality of life. In fact, one study revealed that up to 60 percent of tinnitus patients saw relief when they wore hearing aids, with 22 percent showing appreciable relief.
A conventional hearing aid can essentially hide the buzzing or ringing associated with tinnitus by improving your ability to hear other sounds, which effectively drowns out the ringing. And, fortunately, conventional hearing aids aren’t the only option as more sophisticated treatment possibilities are being produced.
Tinnitus Symptoms Will be Reduced by These Types of Specialized Hearing Aids
Hearing aids work by collecting natural sounds from the world around you and amplifying them to a level that allows you to hear. Although it may be simple in design, that amplification of noise, be it the hum of a dinner party or the rattle of a ceiling fan, is critical in teaching your brain to receive certain stimulations again.
You can enhance those amplification efforts by the combination of other approaches, like counseling, sound stimulation, and stress reduction for a more complete approach to treatment.
Fractal tones and irregular rhythms are even being used by some hearing aid makers. These rhythmically inconsistent tones can distract from the persistent and regular tones tinnitus sufferers hear.
Blending the normal sounds you hear with your tinnitus sounds is the objective of other advanced hearing aid options. Your condition and ear have very personal needs and this technique will use a customized white noise that will be calibrated by your hearing specialist.
Whether it’s through 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.
Hearing aids can improve quality of life and reduce symptoms of tinnitus even if there isn’t any cure.
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
