The cause of tinnitus, a continual ringing or buzzing in the ears, has long puzzled scientists. 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 play a role in the progression of hearing loss. And while it might seem like the symptoms of hearing loss would be fairly obvious, when it’s still in the early phases, it frequently goes undetected. Worse, even a slight 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 aids can treat both hearing loss and tinnitus in ways that can decrease symptoms and improve one’s quality of life. As a matter of fact, the similarities between hearing loss and tinnitus are fairly remarkable.
The frequency range that a person loses hearing in is often in sync with the pitch of their tinnitus symptoms. As an example, if someone has hearing loss in the high-frequency range, they will frequently hear a high-pitched ringing from tinnitus. The idea 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. Here’s the good thing, there are other, more advanced options beyond just traditional hearing aids to treat the symptoms associated with tinnitus.
Decrease symptoms of tinnitus with specialized hearing aids
Hearing aids work by collecting natural sounds from your environment and amplifying them to a level that allows you to hear. Even though hearing aids have a simple concept, they help train your brain to receive certain stimulation again by boosting noises like the rattle of a ceiling fan or the din of a dinner party.
But you can improve those amplification endeavors with a blend of other strategies like counseling, sound stimulation, and stress reduction for a more comprehensive approach to treatment.
Some hearing aid manufacturers endeavor to decrease tinnitus symptoms with the use of the irregular rhythms of fractal tones. Tinnitus sufferers usually hear tones that are constant and regular which can sometimes be interrupted by the irregular rhythms of these fractal tones. While white noise devices are available, the most prevalent fractal tones are similar to wind chimes that provide a pleasant sound that drowns out the ringing.
Mixing natural sounds from your environment with your tinnitus is the objective of other specialized devices. A white noise generator will be used in this approach, which can be calibrated by a hearing specialist to help lessen your specific tinnitus symptoms..
Whether it’s through sound therapy, blending, or a white noise system, each of these specialized devices has a common objective of distracting the user away from the ringing or buzzing of tinnitus.
Though tinnitus has no cure, hearing aids can help reduce the intensity 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?
For more information on decreasing tinnitus symptoms, check out our tinnitus section or call for a consultation.