Scientists still haven’t identified the cause of tinnitus, a ringing or buzzing in the ears. Hearing specialists, however, do agree that tinnitus is more prevalent in people who also have hearing loss.
As you probably know, your age, genetics, and lifestyle can all contribute to the progression of hearing loss. And while it might seem like the symptoms of hearing loss would be pretty obvious, when it’s still in the early phases, it frequently goes unnoticed. Unfortunately, your risk of developing hearing loss increases with even slight cases of hearing loss.
It isn’t a cure, but hearing aids can help manage tinnitus
Tinnitus can’t be cured. However, hearing aids can treat both hearing loss and tinnitus in ways that can minimize symptoms and enhance one’s quality of life. There are some pretty remarkable similarities between tinnitus and hearing loss, in fact.
The frequency range that a person loses hearing in is typically in sync with the pitch of their tinnitus symptoms. As an example, if someone has hearing loss in the high-frequency range, they will usually 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.
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. Fortunately, tinnitus symptoms can be managed in other more advanced ways than traditional hearing aids.
Specialized hearing aids to lessen tinnitus symptoms
Hearing aids detect environmental sounds and boost frequencies you can’t hear very well. Even though hearing aids have a simple concept, they help teach your brain to receive particular stimulation again by amplifying noises like the rattle of a ceiling fan or the buzz of a dinner party.
But other combinations of strategies like sound stimulation, counseling, and minimizing stress can also be utilized to improve those amplification efforts and provide a more comprehensive treatment approach.
Some hearing aid manufacturers endeavor to reduce tinnitus symptoms by using irregular rhythms of fractal tones. These rhythmically inconsistent tones can detract from the constant and regular tones tinnitus sufferers hear. The ringing is overwhelmed by pleasant, wind chime-like sounds generated by the most common fractal tones instead of simple white noise which can also be helpful in some cases.
Other specialized devices try to blend your tinnitus in with the natural sounds you’re hearing. This strategy will generally utilize a white noise signal that a hearing specialist can program to ensure accurate calibration for your ear and your condition.
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 decrease the severity 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, check out our tinnitus section for more information on ways to minimize symptoms.