Scientists still haven’t pinpointed the cause of tinnitus, a ringing or buzzing in the ears. However, there is one thing that all hearing specialists agree on, you are more likely to experience tinnitus if you also suffer from hearing loss.
As you probably know, your age, genetics, and lifestyle can all contribute to the progression of hearing loss. And while it may seem as if the symptoms of hearing loss would be fairly obvious, when it’s still in the early phases, it frequently goes undetected. Unfortunately, your risk of experiencing hearing loss increases with even minor cases of hearing loss.
Hearing aids can’t cure tinnitus, but they can help address the symptoms
There is no cure for tinnitus. However, hearing aids can manage 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 rather remarkable.
The pitch or frequency of the ringing a person hears when dealing with tinnitus is usually in sync with the type of hearing loss that person encounters. As an example, if somebody has hearing loss in the high-frequency range, they will usually 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 effectively 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.
Lessen symptoms of tinnitus with specialized hearing aids
Hearing aids detect environmental sounds and amplify frequencies you can’t hear very well. Even though it may 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 essential in teaching your brain to experience certain stimulations once more.
But other combinations of methods like sound stimulation, counseling, and minimizing stress can also be used to enhance those amplification efforts and supply a more comprehensive treatment approach.
Some manufacturers even utilize the irregular rhythm of fractal tones to decrease the symptoms of tinnitus. These rhythmically irregular tones can detract from the constant and regular tones tinnitus sufferers hear. While white noise devices are available, the most common fractal tones are similar to wind chimes that provide a pleasant sound that drowns out the ringing.
Blending natural sounds from your environment with your tinnitus is the goal of other specialized devices. This approach will generally utilize a white noise signal that a hearing specialist can adjust to ensure accurate 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.
It’s true that tinnitus can’t be cured, but for at least some of the 50 million dealing with the condition, hearing aids provide an alluring possibility to reduce symptoms and improve quality of life.
Have more questions about tinnitus?
For more info on reducing tinnitus symptoms, check out our tinnitus section or call for a consultation.