Scientists still haven’t identified the cause of tinnitus, a ringing or buzzing in the ears. However, there is one thing that all hearing specialists agree on, you are more likely to experience tinnitus if you also cope with 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 slight hearing loss can go unobserved. Unfortunately, your risk of experiencing hearing loss increases with even slight cases of hearing loss.
It isn’t 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. As a matter of fact, the similarities between hearing loss and tinnitus are pretty remarkable.
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. As an example, if somebody has hearing loss in the high-frequency range, they will usually hear a high-pitched ringing from tinnitus. The idea 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 connected with tinnitus by replacing it with the appropriate sounds. Fortunately, tinnitus symptoms can be treated in other more advanced ways than traditional hearing aids.
Specialized hearing aids to reduce tinnitus symptoms
Hearing aids detect environmental sounds and amplify frequencies you can’t hear very well. Even though it might be simple in design, that amplification of noise, be it the din of a dinner party or the rattling of a ceiling fan, is critical in training your brain to receive certain stimulations again.
But other combinations of methods like sound stimulation, counseling, and minimizing stress can also be used to augment those amplification efforts and supply a more complete treatment approach.
Some hearing aid manufacturers endeavor to reduce tinnitus symptoms by using irregular rhythms of fractal tones. Tinnitus sufferers typically hear tones that are constant and regular which can sometimes be disrupted by the irregular rhythms of these fractal tones. While white noise devices are available, the most common fractal tones are similar to wind chimes that supply a soothing sound that drowns out the ringing.
Mixing natural sounds from your environment with your tinnitus is the aim of other specialized devices. This strategy will generally utilize a white noise signal that a hearing specialist can adjust to ensure accurate calibration for your ear and your condition.
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 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 reduce symptoms.