The cause of tinnitus, a continual ringing or buzzing in the ears, has long baffled scientists. 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.
Some of the main factors that contribute to hearing loss are genetics, age, and lifestyle. And while it might seem as if the symptoms of hearing loss would be rather obvious, when it’s still in the early phases, it often goes unnoticed. Still worse, even a minor case of hearing loss increases your risk and likelihood of developing tinnitus.
It’s not 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 decrease symptoms and improve 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. For instance, someone who hears high-pitched ringing from tinnitus might suffer from high-frequency hearing loss. The concept is that the brain tries to compensate for the missing frequencies by generating tinnitus sounds in the same frequency range.
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. Luckily, tinnitus symptoms can be managed in other more advanced ways than traditional hearing aids.
Reduce symptoms of tinnitus with specialized hearing aids
Hearing aids work by picking up natural sounds from your environment and amplifying them to a level that allows you to hear. Even though hearing aids have a simple concept, they help teach your brain to receive certain stimulation again by boosting noises like the rattle of a ceiling fan or the din of a dinner party.
But other combinations of strategies like sound stimulation, counseling, and decreasing stress can also be utilized to improve those amplification efforts and provide a more comprehensive treatment approach.
Some hearing aid manufacturers attempt to decrease tinnitus symptoms by using irregular rhythms of fractal tones. Tinnitus sufferers typically hear tones that are consistent and regular which can sometimes be interrupted by the irregular rhythms of these fractal tones. The ringing is drowned out by pleasant, wind chime-like sounds produced by the most common fractal tones instead of basic white noise which can also be helpful in some cases.
Other specialty devices try to mix 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 correct 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 goal 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 present an alluring possibility to reduce symptoms and improve quality of life.
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.