Scientists still haven’t identified 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 probably know, your age, genetics, and lifestyle can all contribute to the development of hearing loss. And while it might seem like 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 raises your risk and likelihood of experiencing tinnitus.
Hearing aids can’t cure tinnitus, but they can help treat the symptoms
Tinnitus can’t be cured. However, hearing aids can manage both hearing loss and tinnitus in ways that can reduce symptoms and improve one’s quality of life. There are some pretty remarkable similarities between tinnitus and hearing loss, as a matter of fact.
The frequency range that a person loses hearing in is usually in sync with the pitch of their tinnitus symptoms. For instance, somebody who hears high-pitched ringing from tinnitus might suffer from high-frequency hearing loss. Some people believe this parallel to be a result of the brain trying to compensate for a lack of acoustic activation at that level by producing a similarly pitched tone of its own.
Tinnitus sounds can be essentially “masked” by a hearing aid which can drown out the offending sound and replace it with one that’s supposed to be heard. Luckily, tinnitus symptoms can be treated in other more advanced ways than traditional hearing aids.
Decrease symptoms of tinnitus with specialized hearing aids
Hearing aids work by gathering natural sounds from your environment and boosting them to a level that allows you to hear. Even though it might be simple in design, that amplification of noise, whether it’s the din of a dinner party or the rattle of a ceiling fan, is essential in teaching your brain to experience certain stimulations once more.
But you can augment those amplification endeavors with a mix of other strategies like counseling, sound stimulation, and stress management for a more comprehensive approach to treatment.
Some hearing aid manufacturers endeavor to reduce tinnitus symptoms with the use of the irregular rhythms of fractal tones. These rhythmically irregular tones can detract from the consistent and regular tones tinnitus sufferers hear. The ringing is overwhelmed by soothing, wind chime-like sounds generated by the most prevalent fractal tones instead of basic white noise which can also be helpful in some cases.
Other specialty devices attempt to mix your tinnitus in with the environmental sounds you’re hearing. A white noise generator will be used in this approach, which can be calibrated by a hearing specialist to help lessen your particular tinnitus symptoms..
The common intent of these methods is to help the user ignore tinnitus symptoms whether it’s by employing white noise systems, sound therapy, or blending.
It’s true that there is no cure for tinnitus, but for at least some of the 50 million suffering from the condition, hearing aids provide an attractive possibility to reduce symptoms and improve quality of life.
Have more questions about tinnitus?
For more info on decreasing tinnitus symptoms, take a look at our tinnitus section or call for a consultation.
