Scientists still haven’t determined the cause of tinnitus, a ringing or buzzing in the ears. 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 probably know, your age, genetics, and lifestyle can all contribute to the progression of hearing loss. And while many of us think of hearing loss as being obvious, the truth is that some minor hearing loss can go unnoticed. Still worse, even a minor case of hearing loss increases your risk and likelihood of experiencing tinnitus.
Hearing aids can’t cure tinnitus, but they can help address the symptoms
Tinnitus can’t be cured. However, hearing loss and tinnitus symptoms can be improved as well as quality of life by using hearing aids. There are some pretty remarkable similarities between tinnitus and hearing loss, as a matter of fact.
The pitch or frequency of the ringing one hears when dealing with tinnitus is normally in sync with the type of hearing loss that person encounters. For instance, a person who hears high-pitched ringing from tinnitus might suffer from high-frequency hearing loss. Some people believe this parallel to be a consequence of the brain attempting to compensate for a lack of acoustic stimulation at that level by generating a similarly pitched tone of its own.
Tinnitus sounds can be effectively “masked” by a hearing aid which can drown out the offending sound and replace it with one that’s supposed to be heard. The good news is, there are other, more advanced solutions beyond just traditional hearing aids to manage the symptoms associated with tinnitus.
Lessen symptoms of tinnitus with specialized hearing aids
Hearing aids detect environmental sounds and boost frequencies you can’t hear very well. Even though it may 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 essential in training your brain to experience certain stimulations again.
But other combinations of methods like sound stimulation, counseling, and minimizing stress can also be used to enhance those amplification efforts and provide a more complete treatment approach.
Some manufacturers even use the irregular rhythm of fractal tones to lessen the symptoms of tinnitus. 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 common fractal tones are similar to wind chimes that supply a pleasant sound that overwhelms the ringing.
Other specialty 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 fine-tuned by a hearing specialist to help decrease 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 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 struggling with ringing or buzzing in the ears, take a look at our tinnitus section for more information on ways to minimize symptoms.
