The cause of tinnitus, a persistent ringing or buzzing in the ears, has long perplexed scientists. However, there is one thing that all hearing professionals agree on, you are more likely to experience tinnitus if you also suffer from hearing loss.
Some of the primary factors that play a role in hearing loss are genetics, age, and lifestyle. And while many individuals think of hearing loss as being obvious, the truth is that some minor hearing loss can go unnoticed. Unfortunately, your risk of developing hearing loss increases with even minor cases of hearing loss.
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 minimize symptoms and improve one’s quality of life. As a matter of fact, the similarities between hearing loss and tinnitus are rather remarkable.
The pitch or frequency of the ringing a person hears when coping with tinnitus is often in sync with the type of hearing loss that person has. As an example, if someone has hearing loss in the high-frequency range, they will often hear a high-pitched ringing from tinnitus. 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 generating a similarly pitched tone of its own.
A traditional hearing aid can essentially hide the ringing or buzzing connected with tinnitus by replacing it with the appropriate sounds. Fortunately, tinnitus symptoms can be managed in other more advanced ways than traditional hearing aids.
Decrease symptoms of tinnitus with specialized hearing aids
Hearing aids pick up environmental sounds and amplify frequencies you can’t hear very well. Even though it might be simple in design, that amplification of noise, whether it’s the din of a dinner party or the rattling of a ceiling fan, is crucial in training your brain to receive particular stimulations again.
But you can improve those amplification efforts with a combination of other strategies like counseling, sound stimulation, and stress reduction for a more comprehensive approach to treatment.
Some manufacturers even use the irregular rhythm of fractal tones to decrease the symptoms of tinnitus. These rhythmically inconsistent tones can detract from the constant and regular tones tinnitus sufferers hear. While white noise devices are available, the most prevalent fractal tones are similar to wind chimes that provide a pleasant sound that overwhelms the ringing.
Mixing natural sounds from your environment with your tinnitus is the goal of other specialized devices. This approach will typically utilize a white noise signal that a hearing specialist can program to ensure proper calibration for your ear and your condition.
Whether it’s through sound therapy, blending, or a white noise system, each of these specialized devices has a common aim of distracting the user away from the ringing or buzzing of tinnitus.
Though tinnitus can’t be cured, hearing aids can help reduce the intensity of the symptoms and improve quality of life, which is an attractive feature for the 50 million people who use hearing aids.
Have more questions about tinnitus?
If you’re experiencing ringing or buzzing in the ears, take a look at our tinnitus section for more information on ways to decrease symptoms.