Scientists still haven’t determined the cause of tinnitus, a ringing or buzzing in the ears. Hearing specialists, however, do agree that tinnitus is more prevalent in people who also have hearing loss.
As you most likely know, your age, genetics, and lifestyle can all play a role in the progression of hearing loss. And while it may seem as if the symptoms of hearing loss would be pretty obvious, when it’s still in the early stages, it frequently goes undetected. Still worse, even a mild case of hearing loss increases your risk and likelihood of developing tinnitus.
Hearing aids can’t cure tinnitus, but they can help manage the symptoms
There is no cure for tinnitus. However, hearing loss and tinnitus symptoms can be improved along with quality of life by using hearing aids. There are some pretty remarkable similarities between tinnitus and hearing loss, in fact.
The frequency range that a person loses hearing in is typically in sync with the pitch of their tinnitus symptoms. As an example, if somebody has hearing loss in the high-frequency range, they will frequently hear a high-pitched ringing from tinnitus. The concept is that the brain tries to compensate for the missing frequencies by producing tinnitus sounds in the same frequency range.
A traditional hearing aid can effectively hide the ringing or buzzing associated with tinnitus by replacing it with the appropriate sounds. The good news is, there are other, more advanced solutions beyond just traditional hearing aids to manage the symptoms associated with tinnitus.
Specialized hearing aids to decrease tinnitus symptoms
Hearing aids work by gathering natural sounds from your environment and amplifying them to a level that allows you to hear. Even though it may be simple in design, that amplification of noise, be it the hum of a dinner party or the rattling of a ceiling fan, is essential in training your brain to receive particular stimulations again.
But other combinations of methods like sound stimulation, counseling, and decreasing stress can also be used to augment those amplification efforts and supply a more complete treatment approach.
Some hearing aid manufacturers endeavor to decrease tinnitus symptoms by using irregular rhythms of fractal tones. Tinnitus sufferers usually hear tones that are constant and regular which can sometimes be disrupted by the irregular rhythms of these fractal tones. The ringing is overwhelmed by soothing, wind chime-like sounds generated by the most common fractal tones instead of simple white noise which can also be helpful in some cases.
Other specialty devices try to blend your tinnitus in with the natural sounds you’re hearing. This approach will typically utilize a white noise signal that a hearing specialist can program to ensure proper calibration for your ear and your condition.
The common aim of these approaches is to help the user ignore tinnitus symptoms whether it’s by employing white noise systems, sound therapy, or blending.
Though tinnitus has no cure, hearing aids can help decrease the severity of the symptoms and enhance quality of life, which is an alluring feature for the 50 million people who use hearing aids.
Want to talk about your tinnitus with a hearing specialist?
For more info on decreasing tinnitus symptoms, take a look at our tinnitus section or call for a consultation.
