The cause of tinnitus, a persistent 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.
As you most likely know, your age, genetics, and lifestyle can all contribute to the development of hearing loss. And while it may seem like the symptoms of hearing loss would be rather obvious, when it’s still in the early phases, it frequently goes undetected. Unfortunately, your risk of experiencing hearing loss increases with even slight cases of hearing loss.
It’s not a cure, but hearing aids can help manage tinnitus
There is no cure for tinnitus. However, hearing loss and tinnitus symptoms can be improved as well as quality of life by using hearing aids. There are some rather remarkable similarities between tinnitus and hearing loss, as a matter of fact.
The pitch or frequency of the ringing one hears when dealing with tinnitus is often in sync with the type of hearing loss that person has. For instance, somebody 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 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 options beyond just traditional hearing aids to treat the symptoms produced by tinnitus.
Decrease symptoms of tinnitus with specialized hearing aids
Hearing aids detect environmental sounds and amplify frequencies you have trouble hearing. Even though hearing aids have a simple concept, they help train 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 you can enhance those amplification efforts with a combination of other methods like counseling, sound stimulation, and stress management for a more complete 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 produced by the most common fractal tones rather than simple white noise which can also be helpful in some cases.
Mixing natural sounds from your environment with your tinnitus is the goal of other specialized devices. This strategy will typically utilize a white noise signal that a hearing specialist can adjust 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 objective 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 provide an attractive possibility to reduce symptoms and live a better quality of life.
Want to discuss your tinnitus with a hearing specialist?
If you’re struggling with ringing or buzzing in the ears, take a look at our tinnitus section for more information on ways to minimize symptoms.