The cause of tinnitus, a constant ringing or buzzing in the ears, is often ambiguous. But one thing we know for sure is that if you have hearing loss your probability of developing tinnitus goes up. Up to 90 percent of people who experience tinnitus also have hearing loss according to HIAA.
Your lifestyle, age, and genetics can all play a role in the development of hearing loss as you most likely know. Often, mild cases of hearing loss go unnoticed and hearing loss, in general, isn’t always obvious. Even worse, even a slight case of hearing loss raises your risk and likelihood of developing tinnitus.
Hearing aids won’t cure tinnitus but they can help
There is no cure for tinnitus. However, your symptoms can be minimized and your life can be improved by using hearing aids to address your hearing loss and tinnitus. In fact, one study showed that as much as 60 percent of people suffering from tinnitus saw relief when they wore hearing aids, with 22 percent showing considerable relief.
When you can suddenly hear external sounds better because hearing aids have raised the volume, your tinnitus symptoms will be drowned out. And, fortunately, conventional hearing aids aren’t the only solution as more advanced treatment methods are being produced.
Tinnitus symptoms will be decreased by these types of specialty hearing aids
Hearing aids boost the level of environmental sounds to the point that you can hear them clearly. This simple technology is crucial in training 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 enhance those amplification efforts by the combination of other strategies, like counseling, sound stimulation, and stress reduction for a more complete approach to treatment.
Some hearing aid manufacturers even utilize the irregular rhythm of fractal tones to decrease the symptoms of tinnitus. The consistent tone of tinnitus can be interrupted by the irregular tones of these inconsistent rhythms.
Other specialty devices try to blend your tinnitus in with the normal sounds you’re hearing. This approach will generally use a white noise signal that a hearing specialist can adjust to ensure proper calibration for your ear and your disorder.
All of these approaches, from white noise therapies to sound therapies, utilize specialized hearing aid technology to distract the attention of the user away from focusing on tinnitus noises.
Hearing aids can improve quality of life and decrease 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
