The cause of tinnitus, a persistent ringing or buzzing in the ears, has long perplexed 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 primary factors that contribute to hearing loss are genetics, age, and lifestyle. And while many of us think of hearing loss as being obvious, the truth is that some mild hearing loss can go unnoticed. Unfortunately, your risk of developing hearing loss increases with even minor cases of hearing loss.
It isn’t a cure, but hearing aids can help treat tinnitus
There is no cure for tinnitus. However, hearing loss and tinnitus symptoms can be improved along with quality of life by using hearing aids. In fact, the similarities between hearing loss and tinnitus are pretty remarkable.
The pitch or frequency of the ringing one hears when coping with tinnitus is normally in sync with the type of hearing loss that person encounters. For example, somebody who hears high-pitched ringing from tinnitus might suffer from high-frequency hearing loss. The idea is that the brain tries to compensate for the missing frequencies by producing tinnitus sounds in the same frequency range.
Tinnitus sounds can be essentially “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 treated in other more advanced ways than traditional hearing aids.
Specialized hearing aids to reduce tinnitus symptoms
Hearing aids work by gathering natural sounds from your environment and boosting them to a level that allows you to hear. Even though hearing aids have a simple concept, they help train your brain to receive particular stimulation again by boosting noises like the rattling of a ceiling fan or the buzz of a dinner party.
But you can improve those amplification endeavors with a blend of other strategies like counseling, sound stimulation, and stress management for a more complete approach to treatment.
Some hearing aid manufacturers attempt to reduce tinnitus symptoms by using irregular rhythms of fractal tones. These rhythmically inconsistent tones can detract from the consistent and regular tones tinnitus sufferers hear. The ringing is overwhelmed by pleasant, wind chime-like sounds produced by the most prevalent fractal tones instead of basic white noise which can also be helpful in some cases.
Other specialized devices attempt to mix your tinnitus in with the natural sounds you’re hearing. A white noise generator will be used in this approach, which can be calibrated by a hearing specialist to help reduce your specific tinnitus symptoms..
The common aim of these strategies is to help the user disregard tinnitus symptoms whether it’s by employing white noise systems, sound therapy, or blending.
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 attractive possibility to reduce symptoms and improve quality of life.
Want to discuss your tinnitus with a hearing specialist?
For more info on reducing tinnitus symptoms, take a look at our tinnitus section or call for a consultation.
