Around one out of every seven individuals are estimated to suffer from tinnitus. That puts the total number in the millions. In some countries, the numbers are even higher and that’s pretty alarming.
True, tinnitus isn’t always chronic. But in those instances where buzzing, ringing, or humming in your ears is difficult to get rid of, finding a reliable remedy can very quickly become a priority. Luckily, there is a treatment that has proven to be quite effective: hearing aids.
Hearing loss and tinnitus are connected but separate conditions. you can have hearing loss without tinnitus or tinnitus without hearing loss. But if you’re experiencing the two conditions simultaneously, which is pretty common, hearing aids can treat both at the same time.
How Can Tinnitus be Managed by Hearing Aids?
Hearing aids have, according to one survey, been reported to give relief of tinnitus symptoms for up to 60% of participants. Approximately 22% of those surveyed reported considerable relief. Despite this, hearing aids are actually designed to deal with hearing loss not specifically tinnitus. The benefits seem to come by association. So if you have tinnitus along with hearing loss then that’s when your hearing aids will most effectively treat the tinnitus symptoms.
Here’s how hearing aids can help stop tinnitus symptoms:
- External sounds are boosted: When you experience loss of hearing, the volume of the world (or, at least, specific frequencies of the world) can fade away and become more silent. When that happens the ringing in your ears becomes a lot more noticeable. Hearing loss is not reducing the ringing so it becomes the loudest thing you hear. A hearing aid can enhance that surrounding sound, helping to mask the buzzing or ringing that was so forefront before. Tinnitus becomes less of a problem as you pay less attention to it.
- Conversations become easier: Modern hearing aids are particularly effective at identifying human speech and amplifying those sounds. So once you’re using your hearing aids on a regular basis, having conversations gets a lot easier. You can follow the story Fred is telling at the restaurant or listen to what Sally is excited about at work. When you have a healthy involved social life tinnitus can seem to fade into the background. In some cases, tinnitus is intensified by stress so being able to socialize can helps in this way too.
- The increased audio stimulation is keeping your brain fit: When you experience hearing loss, those regions of your brain tasked with interpreting sounds can frequently suffer from fatigue, stress, or atrophy. Tinnitus symptoms you might be experiencing can be decreased when the brain is in a healthy flexible condition and hearing aids can help keep it that way.
The Advantages of Modern Hearing Aids
Smart Technology is incorporated into modern hearing aids. To some extent, that’s because they integrate the latest technologies and hearing assistance algorithms. But the effectiveness of modern hearing aids is attained in part because each device can be refined and calibrated on a patient-per-patient basis (they can even detect the level of background noise and automatically adjust accordingly).
Whatever your particular hearing levels are, personalized hearing aids can easily be calibrated to them. The better your hearings aid works for you, the more likely they are to help you drown out the buzzing or humming from tinnitus.
The Best Way to Stop Tinnitus
Your level of hearing impairment will dictate what’s right for you. There are still treatment solutions for your tinnitus even if you don’t have any hearing loss. That could mean custom-made masking devices, cognitive-behavioral therapy, or medication.
But, if you’re one of the many people out there who happen to have both hearing loss and tinnitus, a set of hearing aids could 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.
