Scientists still haven’t identified 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.
Some of the main factors that contribute to hearing loss are genetics, age, and lifestyle. And while it may seem like the symptoms of hearing loss would be fairly obvious, when it’s still in the early stages, it often goes unnoticed. 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 manage 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. There are some pretty remarkable similarities between tinnitus and hearing loss, as a matter of fact.
The pitch or frequency of the ringing a person hears when coping with tinnitus is often in sync with the type of hearing loss that person encounters. For example, a person who hears high-pitched ringing from tinnitus may suffer from high-frequency hearing loss. The idea is that the brain tries to compensate for the missing frequencies by generating tinnitus sounds in the same frequency range.
A traditional hearing aid can essentially hide the ringing or buzzing connected 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 associated with tinnitus.
Specialized hearing aids to lessen tinnitus symptoms
Hearing aids work by collecting 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 experience certain stimulation again by boosting noises like the rattle of a ceiling fan or the buzz of a dinner party.
But you can improve those amplification efforts with a mix 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 with the use of the irregular rhythms of fractal tones. Tinnitus sufferers usually hear tones that are consistent and regular which can sometimes be interrupted by the irregular rhythms of these fractal tones. The ringing is overwhelmed by soothing, wind chime-like sounds produced by the most prevalent 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 objective of other specialized devices. A white noise generator will be used in this approach, which can be fine-tuned by a hearing specialist to help reduce your specific tinnitus symptoms..
Whether it’s through sound therapy, blending, or a white noise mechanism, 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 there is no cure for tinnitus, 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.
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.
