Around one in seven individuals are estimated to deal with tinnitus. That puts the total number in the millions. That’s… a lot of people, both in absolute terms and in relation to the general population, and in a few countries, the percentage of the population who experience tinnitus is even more alarming.
Sometimes tinnitus is goes away on it’s own. But in those cases where ringing, buzzing, or humming in your ears is tough to get rid of, finding a reliable treatment can very quickly become a priority. Fortunately, there is a remedy that has proven to be really effective: hearing aids.
Hearing loss and tinnitus are connected but distinct conditions. you can have hearing loss without tinnitus or tinnitus without hearing loss. But both conditions coexist often enough that hearing aids have become a practical solution, managing hearing loss and stopping tinnitus all at once.
How Hearing Aids Can Help Tinnitus
Hearing aids have, according to one study, been reported to give relief of tinnitus symptoms for up to 60% of participants. Roughly 22% of those surveyed reported considerable relief. Despite this, hearing aids are actually designed to manage hearing loss not specifically tinnitus. The benefits appear to come by association. As such, hearing aids appear to be most practical if you have tinnitus and hearing loss.
Here’s how hearing aids can help reduce tinnitus symptoms:
- External sounds are enhanced: When you have loss of hearing, the volume of the world (or, at least, certain frequencies of the world) can fade away and become quieter. When that happens the ringing in your ears becomes a lot more obvious. Hearing loss is not decreasing the ringing so it becomes the most pronounced thing you hear. A hearing aid can boost that ambient sound, helping to drown out the ringing or buzzing that was so prominent before. Tinnitus becomes less of an issue as you pay less attention to it.
- Conversations become less difficult: Amplifying human speech is something modern hearing aids are particularly good at. This means having a conversation can be much easier once you’re regularly using your devices. You can keep up with the story Carl is telling at happy hour or listen to what Sally is excited about at work. The more you interact with other people, the more social you are, the less you’ll notice your tinnitus. In some cases, tinnitus is worsened by stress so being able to socialize can helps in this way also.
- The increased audio stimulation is keeping your brain fit: Hearing loss has been confirmed to put a strain on cognitive function. Tinnitus symptoms you might be experiencing can be decreased when the brain is in a healthy limber condition and hearing aids can help keep it that way.
Modern Hearing Aids Come With Numerous Advantages
Smart Technology is built into modern hearing aids. To some degree, that’s because they incorporate the newest technologies and hearing assistance algorithms. But it’s the ability to customize a hearing aid to the specific user’s requirements that makes modern hearing aids so effective (sometimes, they recalibrate based on the amount of background noise).
Personalizing hearing aids means that the sensitivity and output signals can effortlessly be adjusted to the particular hearing levels you may have. The buzzing or humming is more likely to be successfully masked if your hearing aid is dialed in to work best for you.
The Best Way to Stop Tinnitus
This will probably depend on your level of hearing impairment. There are still treatment options for your tinnitus even if you don’t have any hearing impairment. That could mean custom-created masking devices, cognitive-behavioral therapy, or medication.
But, hearing aids may be able to take care of both situations if you have tinnitus and hearing loss at the same time. Stop tinnitus from making your life miserable by managing your hearing loss with a good set of hearing aids.
