The cause of tinnitus, a persistent ringing or buzzing in the ears, is often ambiguous. But one thing we know for sure is that if you have hearing loss your chance of developing tinnitus goes up. Up to 90% of people who suffer from tinnitus also have hearing loss according to HIAA.
As you most likely realize, your age, genetics, and lifestyle can all play a role in the development of hearing loss. Often, minor instances of hearing loss go undetected and hearing loss, in general, isn’t always evident. 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 help you manage both hearing loss and tinnitus in ways that can decrease symptoms and improve one’s quality of life. Sixty percent of people dealing with tinnitus, in fact, experienced relief of their symptoms, and twenty-two had significant improvement.
A conventional hearing aid can essentially hide the buzzing or ringing caused by tinnitus by improving your ability to hear other sounds, which essentially drowns out the ringing. And, fortunately, traditional hearing aids aren’t the only option as more sophisticated treatment possibilities are being produced.
Tinnitus Symptoms Will be Reduced by These Types of Specialty Hearing Aids
Hearing aids boost the volume of environmental sounds to the point that you can hear them clearly. This simple technology is critical in teaching your hearing to receive specific 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 augmenting hearing aids with other techniques, like stress reduction, sound stimulation, and counseling.
Some hearing aid manufacturers even utilize 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 natural sounds you hear with your tinnitus sounds is the goal of other advanced hearing aid options. Your condition and ear have very personal needs and this approach 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 technologies have a common aim of distracting the attention away from the ringing or buzzing of tinnitus.
It’s true that there isn’t any cure for tinnitus, but for at least some individuals, hearing aids help lessen symptoms and improve your quality of life.
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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