The cause of tinnitus, a persistent 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 percent of people who are afflicted by tinnitus also have hearing loss according to HIAA.
Your lifestyle, age, and genetics can all play a role in the development of hearing loss as you probably know. And while many individuals think of hearing loss as being obvious, the truth is that some mild hearing loss can go undetected. Even worse, even a slight case of hearing loss raises your risk and probability of developing tinnitus.
Hearing Aids Won’t Cure Tinnitus But They Can Help
There isn’t a cure for tinnitus. However, your symptoms can be decreased and your life can be improved by wearing hearing aids to treat your hearing loss and tinnitus. Sixty percent of people coping with tinnitus, in fact, experienced relief of their symptoms, and twenty-two had considerable improvement.
A conventional hearing aid can essentially hide the ringing or buzzing caused by tinnitus by strengthening your ability to hear other sounds, which essentially drowns out the ringing. Luckily there are other, more advanced options beyond just conventional hearing aids to manage the symptoms associated with tinnitus.
Tinnitus Symptoms Will be Decreased by These Types of Specialized Hearing Aids
Hearing aids boost the volume of environmental sounds to the point that you can hear them clearly. This simple technology is crucial in teaching your hearing to receive certain stimulation by amplifying sounds like the rattle of a ceiling fan or the hum of a dinner party.
You can take an even more comprehensive approach to your tinnitus management 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 decrease the symptoms of tinnitus. These rhythmically inconsistent tones can distract from the consistent 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 approach will commonly utilize a white noise signal that a hearing expert can adjust to ensure proper calibration for your ear and your disorder.
Whether it’s through sound therapy, blending, or a white noise mechanism, all of these specialized devices have a common goal of distracting the user away from the buzzing or ringing of tinnitus.
Hearing aids can improve quality of life and lessen 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