Scientists still haven’t pinpointed 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 most likely know, your age, genetics, and lifestyle can all play a role in the development of hearing loss. And while many individuals think of hearing loss as being obvious, the reality is that some slight hearing loss can go undetected. Unfortunately, your risk of experiencing hearing loss increases with even mild cases of hearing loss.
It’s not a cure, but hearing aids can help treat tinnitus
There is no cure for tinnitus. However, hearing aids can manage both hearing loss and tinnitus in ways that can minimize symptoms and enhance one’s quality of life. As a matter of fact, the similarities between hearing loss and tinnitus are fairly remarkable.
The frequency range that a person loses hearing in is usually in sync with the pitch of their tinnitus symptoms. As an example, if somebody has hearing loss in the high-frequency range, they will frequently hear a high-pitched ringing from tinnitus. The concept is that the brain tries to compensate for the missing frequencies by producing tinnitus sounds in the same frequency range.
A traditional hearing aid can essentially hide the ringing or buzzing associated with tinnitus by replacing it with the appropriate sounds. Here’s the good thing, there are other, more advanced solutions beyond just traditional hearing aids to treat the symptoms produced by 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 hearing aids have a simple concept, they help teach your brain to experience particular stimulation again by boosting noises like the rattling of a ceiling fan or the buzz of a dinner party.
But other combinations of strategies like sound stimulation, counseling, and reducing stress can also be utilized to augment those amplification efforts and provide a more comprehensive treatment approach.
Some manufacturers even utilize the irregular rhythm of fractal tones to reduce the symptoms of tinnitus. Tinnitus sufferers usually hear tones that are constant and regular which can sometimes be disrupted by the irregular rhythms of these fractal tones. The ringing is drowned out by soothing, wind chime-like sounds produced by the most common fractal tones rather than simple white noise which can also be helpful in some cases.
Blending natural sounds from your environment with your tinnitus is the aim of other specialized devices. A white noise generator will be used in this approach, which can be calibrated by a hearing specialist to help decrease your particular tinnitus symptoms..
The common intent of these methods is to help the user ignore tinnitus symptoms whether it’s by employing white noise systems, sound therapy, or blending.
It’s true that there is no cure for tinnitus, 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?
If you’re struggling with ringing or buzzing in the ears, check out our tinnitus section for more information on ways to minimize symptoms.