It’s generally unclear what’s triggering tinnitus (a buzzing or ringing in your ears). However, there is one thing researchers agree on: you are more likely to develop tinnitus if you also suffer from hearing loss. According to HLAA up to 90 percent of people who have tinnitus also have hearing loss.
As you most likely know, your genetics, age, and lifestyle can all play a role in the advancement of hearing loss. And while many of us think of hearing loss as being obvious, the truth is that some mild hearing loss can go unnoticed. Worse, even a minor case of hearing loss increases your risk and probability of developing tinnitus.
Hearing Aids Won’t Cure Tinnitus But They Will Help
Tinnitus doesn’t have a cure. However, hearing aids can treat both hearing loss and tinnitus in ways that can reduce symptoms and improve one’s quality of life. In fact, one study revealed that as much as 60 percent of tinnitus patients experienced relief when they used hearing aids, with 22 percent showing substantial relief.
A conventional hearing aid can essentially hide the buzzing or ringing associated with tinnitus by improving your ability to hear outside sounds, which essentially drowns out the ringing. The good news is that there are other, more sophisticated solutions beyond just conventional hearing aids to manage the symptoms related to tinnitus.
Types of Specialty Hearing Aids to Lessen Tinnitus Symptoms
Hearing aids increase the level of environmental sounds to the point that you can hear them clearly. This basic technology is critical in training 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 management by enhancing hearing aids with other techniques, 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. The constant 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 advanced hearing aid options. This approach will commonly utilize a white noise signal that a hearing specialist can adjust to guarantee correct calibration for your ear and your disorder.
Whether you use sound therapy, blending, or a white noise mechanism, all of these specialized technologies have a common aim of distracting the user away from the ringing or buzzing of tinnitus.
Hearing aids can improve quality of life and lessen symptoms of tinnitus even if there isn’t any cure.
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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