The cause of tinnitus, a constant ringing or buzzing in the ears, is often unclear. But one thing we know for sure is that if you have hearing loss your probability of developing tinnitus rises. Up to 90 percent of people who experience tinnitus also have hearing loss according to HIAA.
Your lifestyle, age, and genetics can all take part in the development of hearing loss as you most likely know. Frequently, mild instances of hearing loss go undetected and hearing loss, in general, isn’t always evident. Worse, even a minor 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 struggling with tinnitus, in fact, saw relief of their symptoms, and twenty-two had significant improvement.
A traditional hearing aid can essentially hide the ringing or buzzing caused by tinnitus by strengthening your ability to hear other sounds, which effectively drowns out the ringing. And, fortunately, traditional hearing aids aren’t the only option as more advanced treatment methods are being produced.
Types of Specialty Hearing Aids to Reduce Tinnitus Symptoms
Hearing aids work by collecting natural sounds from the environment around you and boosting them to a level that lets you hear. Although it may be simple in design, that amplification of sound, be it the rabble of a dinner party or the clank of a ceiling fan, is crucial in teaching your brain to receive certain stimulations again.
You can enhance those amplification efforts by the combination of other approaches, like counseling, sound stimulation, and stress reduction for a more complete approach to treatment.
Fractal tones and irregular rhythms are even being used by some hearing aid manufacturers. 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 natural sounds you’re hearing. This approach will commonly use a white noise signal that a hearing professional can adjust to ensure correct calibration for your ear and your disorder.
All of these approaches, from white noise therapies to sound therapies, use specialized hearing aid technology to distract the attention of the user away from paying attention to tinnitus noises.
It’s true that there is no cure for tinnitus, but for at least some, hearing aids help reduce symptoms and improve your quality of life.
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
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