It’s generally unclear what’s causing tinnitus (a ringing or buzzing 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 as much as 90 percent of people who have tinnitus also have hearing loss.
Your lifestyle, age, and genetics can all play a role in the development of hearing loss as you most likely know. And while many individuals think of hearing loss as being obvious, the truth is that some minor hearing loss can go undetected. Worse, even a slight case of hearing loss increases your risk and probability of developing tinnitus.
Hearing Aids Won’t Cure Tinnitus But They Can Help
There is no cure for tinnitus. However, your symptoms can be decreased and your life can be improved by using hearing aids to address your hearing loss and tinnitus. Sixty percent of people coping with tinnitus, in fact, experienced relief of their symptoms, and twenty-two had substantial improvement.
A traditional hearing aid can essentially hide the ringing or buzzing caused by tinnitus by improving your ability to hear other sounds, which basically drowns out the ringing. And, fortunately, traditional 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 allows you to hear. Even though it may be basic in design, that amplification of noise, be it the rabble of a dinner party or the clank of a ceiling fan, is critical in training your brain to receive certain stimulations again.
You can enhance those amplification efforts by the combination of other methods, like counseling, sound stimulation, and stress reduction for a more comprehensive approach to treatment.
Some hearing aid manufacturers even utilize the irregular rhythm of fractal tones to minimize the symptoms of tinnitus. The consistent tone of tinnitus can be interrupted by the irregular tones of these inconsistent rhythms.
Other specialized devices try to blend your tinnitus in with the natural sounds you’re hearing. This approach will generally utilize 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, utilize 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 lessen symptoms of tinnitus even if there isn’t any 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