It’s often unclear what’s causing tinnitus (a buzzing or ringing in your ears). However, there is one thing experts agree on: you are more likely to develop tinnitus if you also are suffering from hearing loss. According to HLAA as much as 90 percent of individuals who experience tinnitus also have hearing loss.
Your age, lifestyle, and genetics can all take part in the development of hearing loss as you most likely know. And while many of us think of hearing loss as being obvious, the reality is that some minor hearing loss can go undetected. Worse, even a slight case of hearing loss raises your risk and probability of developing tinnitus.
Hearing Aids Won’t Cure Tinnitus But They Will Help
Tinnitus doesn’t have a cure. However, your symptoms can be reduced and your life can be improved by using hearing aids to treat your hearing loss and tinnitus. Sixty percent of people struggling with tinnitus, in fact, experienced relief of their symptoms, and twenty-two had substantial improvement.
When you can suddenly hear outside sounds better because hearing aids have raised the volume, your tinnitus symptoms will be drowned out. The good news is that there are other, more sophisticated solutions beyond just traditional hearing aids to manage the symptoms linked to tinnitus.
Types of Specialized Hearing Aids to Lessen Tinnitus Symptoms
Hearing aids work by collecting natural sounds from the world around you and boosting them to a level that lets you hear. This simple technology is crucial in training your hearing to receive specific stimulation by amplifying sounds like the clattering of a ceiling fan or the rabble of a dinner party.
You can augment those amplification efforts by the combination of other approaches, like counseling, sound stimulation, and stress reduction for a more complete approach to treatment.
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.
Blending the normal sounds you hear with your tinnitus sounds is the objective of other sophisticated hearing aid options. This approach will generally utilize a white noise signal that a hearing professional can adjust to guarantee proper calibration for your ear and your condition.
All of these approaches, from white noise therapies to sound therapies, use specialized hearing aid technology to distract the attention of the user away from focusing on tinnitus noises.
It’s true that there isn’t any cure for tinnitus, but for at least some people, hearing aids help reduce symptoms and improve your quality of life.
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