Scientists still haven’t pinpointed the cause of tinnitus, a ringing or buzzing in the ears. However, there is one thing that all hearing professionals agree on, you are more likely to experience tinnitus if you also suffer from hearing loss.
As you probably 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 rather obvious, when it’s still in the early stages, it frequently goes undetected. Unfortunately, your risk of experiencing hearing loss increases with even slight cases of hearing loss.
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 as well as quality of life by using hearing aids. There are some fairly remarkable similarities between tinnitus and hearing loss, as a matter of fact.
The pitch or frequency of the ringing a person hears when dealing with tinnitus is often in sync with the type of hearing loss that person has. As an example, if someone has hearing loss in the high-frequency range, they will often hear a high-pitched ringing from tinnitus. The concept is that the brain tries to compensate for the missing frequencies by creating tinnitus sounds in the same frequency range.
A traditional hearing aid can essentially 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 treat the symptoms produced by tinnitus.
Reduce symptoms of tinnitus with specialized hearing aids
Hearing aids pick up environmental sounds and boost 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 critical in teaching your brain to experience certain stimulations once more.
But you can enhance those amplification efforts with a blend of other methods like counseling, sound stimulation, and stress management for a more extensive approach to treatment.
Some hearing aid manufacturers endeavor to decrease tinnitus symptoms with the use of the 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 produced by the most prevalent 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 objective of other specialized devices. This strategy will typically utilize a white noise signal that a hearing specialist can program to ensure accurate calibration for your ear and your condition.
The common goal of these approaches 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 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 discuss your tinnitus with a hearing professional?
If you’re struggling with ringing or buzzing in the ears, check out our tinnitus section for more information on ways to decrease symptoms.