The cause of tinnitus, a continual ringing or buzzing in the ears, has long baffled scientists. However, there is one thing that all hearing professionals agree on, you are more likely to experience tinnitus if you also cope with hearing loss.
As you most likely know, your age, genetics, and lifestyle can all contribute to the progression of hearing loss. And while many individuals think of hearing loss as being obvious, the reality is that some minor hearing loss can go undetected. Still worse, even a slight case of hearing loss increases your risk and likelihood of experiencing tinnitus.
It isn’t a cure, but hearing aids can help manage tinnitus
There is no cure for tinnitus. However, hearing aids can manage both hearing loss and tinnitus in ways that can minimize symptoms and improve one’s quality of life. In fact, the similarities between hearing loss and tinnitus are fairly remarkable.
The pitch or frequency of the ringing one hears when dealing with tinnitus is typically in sync with the type of hearing loss that person has. For instance, someone who hears high-pitched ringing from tinnitus might suffer from high-frequency hearing loss. Some individuals 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.
A traditional hearing aid can essentially hide the ringing or buzzing associated with tinnitus by replacing it with the appropriate sounds. Luckily, tinnitus symptoms can be managed in other more advanced ways than traditional hearing aids.
Specialized hearing aids to decrease tinnitus symptoms
Hearing aids pick up environmental sounds and boost frequencies you have trouble hearing. Even though it might 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 crucial in training your brain to receive certain stimulations again.
But you can improve those amplification endeavors with a mix of other methods like counseling, sound stimulation, and stress management for a more extensive approach to treatment.
Some manufacturers even use the irregular rhythm of fractal tones to lessen the symptoms of tinnitus. Tinnitus sufferers usually hear tones that are consistent and regular which can sometimes be disrupted by the irregular rhythms of these fractal tones. While white noise devices are available, the most common fractal tones sound somewhat like wind chimes that provide a soothing sound that drowns out the ringing.
Other specialty devices attempt to mix your tinnitus in with the natural sounds you’re hearing. A white noise generator will be used in this approach, which can be fine-tuned by a hearing specialist to help decrease your specific tinnitus symptoms..
Whether it’s through sound therapy, blending, or a white noise mechanism, each of these specialized devices has a common aim of distracting the user away from the ringing or buzzing of tinnitus.
Though tinnitus has no cure, hearing aids can help reduce the severity of the symptoms and enhance quality of life, which is an attractive feature for the 50 million people who use hearing aids.
Want to talk about your tinnitus with a hearing professional?
For more information on reducing tinnitus symptoms, take a look at our tinnitus section or call for a consultation.
