Around one in seven people 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.
True, tinnitus isn’t always recurring. But if you’re coping with chronic tinnitus symptoms it becomes imperative to find a solution as soon as you can. One of the most beneficial of such treatments is already rather common: hearing aids.
Tinnitus and hearing loss are related but separate conditions. It’s possible to experience tinnitus with average hearing or to experience hearing loss without also getting tinnitus. But the two conditions coexist often enough that hearing aids have become a practical solution, managing hearing loss and ending tinnitus all at once.
How Can Tinnitus be Managed by Hearing Aids?
According to one survey, 60% of people who suffer from tinnitus noticed some measure of relief when they started using hearing aids. Approximately 22% of those surveyed went so far as to report significant relief. Despite this, hearing aids are actually designed to deal with hearing loss not specifically tinnitus. The benefits seem to come by association. As such, hearing aids seem to be most practical if you have tinnitus and hearing loss.
Here’s how hearing aids can help stop tinnitus symptoms:
- Everything gets slightly louder: The volume of certain wavelengths of the world become quieter when have hearing loss. When that occurs the ringing in your ears becomes much more noticeable. Hearing loss is not affecting the ringing so it becomes the loudest thing you hear. The buzzing or ringing that was so prominent will be obscured when your hearing aid enhances the external sound. As you tune out your tinnitus, it becomes less of an issue.
- Conversations become less difficult: Contemporary hearing aids are particularly effective at identifying human speech and raising the volume of those sounds. This means carrying on a conversation can be much easier once you’re regularly wearing your devices. You can keep up with the story Fred is telling at the restaurant or listen to what Nancy is excited about at work. When you have a healthy interactive social life tinnitus can seem to fade into the background. 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 shown to put a strain on cognitive function. Wearing a hearing aid can keep the audio centers of your brain limber and healthy, which in turn can help decrease certain tinnitus symptoms you may be experiencing.
Modern Hearing Aids Come With Several Benefits
Modern hearing aids are intelligent. To some degree, that’s because they feature the latest technologies and hearing assistance algorithms. But the efficiency of modern hearing aids is attained in part because each device can be refined and calibrated on a patient-by-patient basis (they can even detect the level of background noise and automatically adjust accordingly).
Whatever your specific hearing levels are, personalized hearing aids can conveniently be calibrated to them. The humming or buzzing is more likely to be effectively obscured if your hearing aid is dialed in to work best for you.
The Best Way to Get Rid of Tinnitus
This will likely depend on your level of hearing impairment. If you haven’t experienced any hearing loss, you’ll still have available treatments for your tinnitus. 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 difficult by treating your hearing loss with a good pair of hearing aids.