The cause of tinnitus, a persistent ringing or buzzing in the ears, is generally ambiguous. But one thing we know for sure is that if you have hearing loss your probability of experiencing tinnitus rises. According to HLAA up to 90 percent of individuals who experience tinnitus also have hearing loss.
Your age, lifestyle, and genetics can all play a role in the development of hearing loss as you probably know. And while many of us think of hearing loss as being obvious, the reality is that some minor hearing loss can go unnoticed. Even mild cases of hearing loss will raise your chance of tinnitus, making the situation even worse.
Hearing Aids Won’t Cure Tinnitus But They Can Help
There is no cure for tinnitus. However, hearing aids can treat both hearing loss and tinnitus in ways that can decrease symptoms and improve one’s quality of life. As a matter of fact, one study showed that up to 60 percent of tinnitus patients saw relief when they used hearing aids, with 22 percent showing significant relief.
A conventional hearing aid can essentially hide the ringing or buzzing associated with tinnitus by improving your ability to hear other sounds, which essentially drowns out the ringing. And, fortunately, conventional hearing aids aren’t the only option as more advanced treatment possibilities are being produced.
Types of Specialty Hearing Aids to Lessen Tinnitus Symptoms
Hearing aids work by gathering natural sounds from the world around you and boosting them to a level that allows you to hear. This basic technology is critical in teaching your hearing to receive certain stimulation by boosting sounds like the clattering of a ceiling fan or the hum of a dinner party.
You can take an even more comprehensive approach to your tinnitus treatment by enhancing hearing aids with other strategies, like stress reduction, sound stimulation, and counseling.
Some hearing aid makers even utilize the irregular rhythm of fractal tones to decrease the symptoms of tinnitus. These rhythmically inconsistent tones can distract from the persistent and regular tones tinnitus sufferers experience.
Blending the normal sounds you hear with your tinnitus sounds is the goal of other sophisticated hearing aid options. This strategy will generally use a white noise signal that a hearing specialist can adjust to ensure correct calibration for your ear and your condition.
All of these strategies, from white noise therapies to sound therapies, use specialized hearing aid technology to distract the attention of the user away from paying attention to tinnitus noises.
Hearing aids can improve quality of life and reduce symptoms of tinnitus even if there is no 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