Most estimates put the amount of individuals impacted by tinnitus in the millions or about one out of every seven people. In some countries, the numbers are even higher and that’s pretty startling.
Sometimes tinnitus is temporary. But if you’re coping with chronic tinnitus symptoms it becomes crucial to find a treatment as soon as possible. Fortunately, there is a treatment that has proven to be rather effective: hearing aids.
There are some links between tinnitus and hearing loss but they are in fact distinct conditions. It’s possible to experience tinnitus with normal hearing or to experience hearing loss without also getting tinnitus. But if you’re going through the two conditions simultaneously, which is fairly typical, hearing aids can treat both at the same time.
How Hearing Aids Can Help Tinnitus
Hearing aids have, based on one survey, been documented to give relief of tinnitus symptoms for up to 60% of participants. For 22% of those people, the relief was significant. In spite of this, hearing aids are actually designed to treat hearing loss not specifically tinnitus. Association appears to be the principal reason for this benefit. So if you have tinnitus along with hearing loss then that’s when your hearing aids will most successfully treat the tinnitus symptoms.
Here’s how hearing aids can help reduce tinnitus symptoms:
- Everything gets slightly louder: The volume of certain frequencies of the world become quieter when you are suffering from hearing loss. The ringing in your ears, in that situation, is much more noticeable. Hearing loss is not reducing the ringing so it becomes the most pronounced thing you hear. The buzzing or ringing that was so obvious will be obscured when your hearing aid enhances the external sound. Tinnitus becomes less of an issue as you pay less attention to it.
- Conversations become less difficult: Increasing the volume of human speech is something contemporary hearing aids are particularly good at. So once you’re using your hearing aids regularly, carrying on conversations becomes a lot easier. You will be more involved with your co-worker’s story about their kids and better able to participate with your spouse about how their day went. When you have a balanced interactive social life tinnitus can appear to disappear into the background. At times, tinnitus is worsened by stress so being able to socialize can helps in this way too.
- Your brain is getting an auditory workout: Hearing loss has been confirmed to put stress on cognitive function. Wearing a hearing aid can keep the audio regions of your brain limber and healthy, which in turn can help decrease some tinnitus symptoms you might be experiencing.
The Benefits of Modern Hearing Aids
Modern hearing aids are intelligent. To some extent, that’s because they integrate the latest technologies and hearing assistance algorithms. But the effectiveness of modern hearing aids is achieved in part because each device can be refined and calibrated on a patient-by-patient basis (sometimes, they recalibrate according to the level of background noise).
Whatever your specific hearing levels are, personalized hearing aids can effortlessly be calibrated to them. The humming or buzzing is more likely to be effectively masked if your hearing aid is dialed in to work best for you.
The Best Way to Get Rid of Tinnitus
This will likely depend on your level of hearing loss. There are still treatment solutions for your tinnitus even if you don’t have any hearing impairment. Medication, cognitive behavioral therapy, or a custom masking device are some possible solutions.
But, if you’re one of the many people out there who happen to suffer from both hearing impairment and tinnitus, a set of hearing aids might be able to do the old two-birds-one-stone thing. Stop tinnitus from making your life miserable by managing your hearing loss with a good set of hearing aids.