The cause of tinnitus, a persistent buzzing or ringing in the ears, is often unclear. 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 as much as 90 percent of individuals who have tinnitus also have hearing loss.
As you most likely know, your genetics, age, and lifestyle can all play a role in the development of hearing loss. Often, minor cases of hearing loss go unnoticed and hearing loss, in general, isn’t always apparent. Even mild cases of hearing loss will raise your likelihood of tinnitus, making the situation even worse.
It’s Not a Cure, But Hearing Aids Can Help Treat Tinnitus
There isn’t a cure for tinnitus. However, hearing aids will treat both hearing loss and tinnitus in ways that can decrease symptoms and improve one’s quality of life. In fact, one study revealed that up to 60 percent of people suffering from tinnitus experienced relief when they wore hearing aids, with 22 percent showing considerable relief.
When you can suddenly hear external sounds better because hearing aids have boosted the volume, your tinnitus symptoms will be drowned out. And, fortunately, conventional hearing aids aren’t the only option as more sophisticated treatment methods are being produced.
Types of Specialty Hearing Aids to Reduce Tinnitus Symptoms
Hearing aids work by gathering natural sounds from the environment around you and amplifying them to a level that lets you hear. Although it might be simple in design, that amplification of sound, be it the hum of a dinner party or the clank of a ceiling fan, is critical in training your brain to receive certain stimulations again.
You can take an even more comprehensive approach to your tinnitus management by augmenting hearing aids with other techniques, like stress reduction, sound stimulation, and counseling.
Fractal tones and irregular rhythms are even being utilized by some hearing aid makers. The consistent tone of tinnitus can be interrupted by the uneven tones of these inconsistent rhythms.
Other specialized devices try to blend your tinnitus in with the normal sounds you’re hearing. This approach will commonly utilize a white noise signal that a hearing expert can adjust to guarantee proper calibration for your ear and your condition.
Whether it’s through sound therapy, blending, or a white noise mechanism, all of these specialized devices have a common goal of distracting the attention 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.
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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