Most estimates put the number of individuals affected by tinnitus in the millions or about one in every seven people. In some countries, the numbers are even higher and that’s pretty startling.
True, tinnitus isn’t always recurring. But in those cases where ringing, buzzing, or humming in your ears is hard to get rid of, finding an effective remedy can very quickly become a priority. One of the most effective of such remedies is already quite common: hearing aids.
There are some connections between tinnitus and hearing loss but they are in fact distinct conditions. It’s possible to have tinnitus with average hearing or to have hearing loss without also getting tinnitus. But if you’re experiencing the two conditions simultaneously, which is fairly typical, hearing aids can handle both at the same time.
How Can Tinnitus be Helped by Hearing Aids?
According to one survey, 60% of individuals with tinnitus observed some measure of relief when they began using hearing aids. For 22% of those individuals, the relief was significant. However, hearing aids aren’t designed specifically to treat tinnitus. The benefits appear to come by association. As such, hearing aids appear to be most effective if you have tinnitus and hearing loss.
Here’s how tinnitus symptoms can be reduced with hearing aids:
- Everything gets slightly louder: The volume of some of the frequencies of the world become quieter when you are suffering from hearing loss. When that happens the ringing in your ears becomes a lot more noticeable. Hearing loss is not decreasing 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 boosts the external sound. Tinnitus becomes less of an issue as you pay less attention to it.
- It gets easier to engage in conversations: Increasing the volume of human speech is something modern hearing aids are particularly good at. So once you’re wearing your hearing aids regularly, having conversations gets 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 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 portions of your brain charged with interpreting sounds can frequently suffer from stress, fatigue, or atrophy. Wearing a hearing aid can keep the audio centers of your brain limber and healthy, which as a result can help decrease certain tinnitus symptoms you might be experiencing.
Modern Hearing Aids Come With Many Advantages
Modern hearing aids are intelligent. They include cutting edge hearing assistance algorithms and the latest technology. 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 (they can even sense the amount of background noise and automatically adjust accordingly).
Customizing hearing aids means that the sensitivity and output signals can conveniently be calibrated to the specific hearing levels you might have. The buzzing or humming 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
Your level of hearing loss will dictate what’s right for you. If you haven’t had any hearing loss, you’ll still have available treatment options for your tinnitus. That could mean custom-created masking devices, cognitive-behavioral therapy, or medication.
However, hearing aids may be able to take care of both situations if you have tinnitus and hearing loss at the same time. Treating your hearing loss with a good set of hearing aids can often stop tinnitus from making your life difficult.