The cause of tinnitus, a continual ringing or buzzing in the ears, has long perplexed scientists. Hearing specialists, however, do agree that tinnitus is more prevalent in people who also have hearing loss.
Some of the primary factors that contribute to hearing loss are genetics, age, and lifestyle. And while many people think of hearing loss as being obvious, the reality is that some mild hearing loss can go unobserved. Worse, even a slight case of hearing loss increases your risk and likelihood of developing tinnitus.
It isn’t a cure, but hearing aids can help manage tinnitus
Tinnitus can’t be cured. However, hearing loss and tinnitus symptoms can be improved as well as quality of life by using hearing aids. There are some fairly 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. For instance, somebody who hears high-pitched ringing from tinnitus may suffer from high-frequency hearing loss. Some individuals believe this parallel to be a result of the brain trying to compensate for a lack of acoustic activation at that level by generating a similarly pitched tone of its own.
A traditional hearing aid can essentially hide the ringing or buzzing associated with tinnitus by replacing it with the appropriate sounds. Luckily, tinnitus symptoms can be managed in other more advanced ways than traditional hearing aids.
Decrease symptoms of tinnitus with specialized hearing aids
Hearing aids pick up environmental sounds and amplify frequencies you can’t hear very well. Even though it may be simple in design, that amplification of noise, whether it’s the hum of a dinner party or the rattle of a ceiling fan, is essential in training your brain to receive particular stimulations once more.
But other combinations of methods like sound stimulation, counseling, and decreasing stress can also be utilized to augment those amplification efforts and provide a more comprehensive treatment approach.
Some hearing aid manufacturers endeavor to decrease tinnitus symptoms by using irregular rhythms of fractal tones. These rhythmically irregular tones can detract from the constant and regular tones tinnitus sufferers hear. The ringing is drowned out 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.
Blending natural sounds from your environment with your tinnitus is the goal of other specialized devices. This approach will typically use a white noise signal that a hearing specialist can program to ensure accurate calibration for your ear and your condition.
The common intent of these methods is to help the user ignore tinnitus symptoms whether it’s by employing white noise mechanisms, sound therapy, or blending.
Though tinnitus has no cure, hearing aids can help reduce the severity of the symptoms and enhance quality of life, which is an attractive feature for the 50 million people who use hearing aids.
Have more questions about tinnitus?
If you’re struggling with ringing or buzzing in the ears, take a look at our tinnitus section for more information on ways to minimize symptoms.