The cause of tinnitus, a continual ringing or buzzing in the ears, has long baffled scientists. Hearing specialists, however, do agree that tinnitus is more prevalent in people who also have hearing loss.
Some of the main factors that play a role in hearing loss are genetics, age, and lifestyle. And while it may seem as if the symptoms of hearing loss would be rather obvious, when it’s still in the early stages, it often goes unnoticed. Still worse, even a slight case of hearing loss increases your risk and likelihood of experiencing tinnitus.
Hearing aids can’t cure tinnitus, but they can help treat the symptoms
Tinnitus can’t be cured. However, hearing loss and tinnitus symptoms can be improved as well as quality of life by using hearing aids. As a matter of fact, the similarities between hearing loss and tinnitus are pretty 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 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 consequence of the brain trying to compensate for a lack of acoustic stimulation at that level by generating a similarly pitched tone of its own.
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. Fortunately, tinnitus symptoms can be treated in other more advanced ways than traditional hearing aids.
Specialized hearing aids to lessen tinnitus symptoms
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, be it the hum of a dinner party or the rattle of a ceiling fan, is crucial in training your brain to receive certain stimulations once more.
But you can augment those amplification efforts with a blend of other techniques like counseling, sound stimulation, and stress management for a more comprehensive approach to treatment.
Some manufacturers even use the irregular rhythm of fractal tones to reduce the symptoms of tinnitus. These rhythmically inconsistent tones can detract from the consistent and regular tones tinnitus sufferers hear. The ringing is drowned out by soothing, wind chime-like sounds generated by the most prevalent fractal tones instead of simple white noise which can also be helpful in some cases.
Other specialty devices try to mix your tinnitus in with the outside sounds you’re hearing. A white noise generator will be used in this approach, which can be fine-tuned by a hearing specialist to help decrease your particular tinnitus symptoms..
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 there is no cure for tinnitus, 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 professional?
If you’re experiencing ringing or buzzing in the ears, check out our tinnitus section for more information on ways to reduce symptoms.