The cause of tinnitus, a persistent ringing or buzzing in the ears, has long baffled scientists. Hearing specialists, however, do agree that tinnitus is more prevalent in people who also have hearing loss.
Some of the main factors that contribute to hearing loss are genetics, age, and lifestyle. And while many individuals think of hearing loss as being obvious, the reality is that some slight hearing loss can go unnoticed. Worse, even a mild case of hearing loss increases your risk and likelihood of developing tinnitus.
It’s not a cure, but hearing aids can help treat tinnitus
There is no cure for tinnitus. However, hearing loss and tinnitus symptoms can be improved along with 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. For example, somebody who hears high-pitched ringing from tinnitus may suffer from high-frequency hearing loss. The concept is that the brain tries to compensate for the missing frequencies by producing tinnitus sounds in the same frequency range.
A traditional hearing aid can effectively hide the ringing or buzzing associated with tinnitus by replacing it with the appropriate sounds. The good news is, there are other, more advanced options beyond just traditional hearing aids to manage the symptoms associated with tinnitus.
Decrease symptoms of tinnitus with specialized hearing aids
Hearing aids pick up environmental sounds and amplify frequencies you have trouble hearing. Even though hearing aids have a simple concept, they help train your brain to experience particular stimulation again by boosting noises like the rattling of a ceiling fan or the buzz of a dinner party.
But you can enhance those amplification efforts with a mix of other techniques like counseling, sound stimulation, and stress reduction for a more comprehensive approach to treatment.
Some manufacturers even utilize the irregular rhythm of fractal tones to decrease the symptoms of tinnitus. 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 rather than basic white noise which can also be helpful in some cases.
Other specialized devices try 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..
Whether it’s through sound therapy, blending, or a white noise mechanism, each of these specialized devices has a common goal 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 attractive feature for the 50 million people who use hearing aids.
Have more questions about tinnitus?
For more information on decreasing tinnitus symptoms, check out our tinnitus section or call for a consultation.