Around one in 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 recurring. But in those situations where ringing, buzzing, or humming in your ears is difficult to shake, finding an effective remedy can very quickly become a priority. Fortunately, there is a remedy that has proven to be rather effective: hearing aids.
There are some links between hearing loss and tinnitus but they are in fact distinct conditions. you can have hearing loss without tinnitus or tinnitus without hearing loss. But both conditions coexist often enough that hearing aids have become a dependable solution, managing hearing loss and ending tinnitus in one fell swoop.
How Can Tinnitus be Treated by Hearing Aids?
According to one survey, 60% of individuals with tinnitus noticed some measure of relief when they started using hearing aids. Approximately 22% of those surveyed went so far as to report significant relief. Despite this, hearing aids are actually made to treat hearing loss not specifically tinnitus. Association seems to be the principal reason for this benefit. So if you have tinnitus and hearing loss then that’s when your hearing aids will most effectively treat the tinnitus symptoms.
Here’s how tinnitus symptoms can be reduced with hearing aids:
- Everything gets a bit louder: The volume of certain frequencies of the world become quieter when you’re suffering from hearing loss. The ringing in your ears, then, is a lot more obvious. Hearing loss is not reducing the ringing so it becomes the most pronounced thing you hear. A hearing aid can increase that ambient sound, helping to mask the ringing or buzzing that was so prominent before. As you pay less and less attention to your tinnitus, it becomes less of an issue.
- Conversations become easier: Contemporary hearing aids are particularly good at identifying human speech and amplifying those sounds. So once you’re using your hearing aids regularly, having conversations becomes much easier. You can follow the story Fred is telling at happy hour or listen to what Nancy is excited about at work. When you have a balanced involved social life tinnitus can seem to disappear into the background. Interacting socially also helps minimize stress, which is linked to tinnitus.
- The enhanced audio stimulation is keeping your brain fit: When you experience hearing loss, those regions of your brain tasked with interpreting sounds can often suffer from stress, fatigue, or atrophy. Tinnitus symptoms you may be experiencing can be decreased when the brain is in a healthy limber condition and hearing aids can help keep it that way.
Modern Hearing Aids Come With Numerous Advantages
Smart Technology is built into modern hearing aids. To some degree, that’s because they integrate the newest technologies and hearing assistance algorithms. But the efficiency of modern hearing aids is achieved in part because each device can be customized and calibrated on a patient-by-patient basis (they can even sense the level of background noise and automatically recalibrate accordingly).
Whatever your specific hearing levels are, customized hearing aids can easily be calibrated to them. 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 Stop Tinnitus
Your level of hearing loss will determine what’s right for you. There are still treatment options for your tinnitus even if you don’t have any hearing loss. That could mean custom-created masking devices, cognitive-behavioral therapy, or medication.
However, 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. Treating your hearing impairment with a good set of hearing aids can often stop tinnitus from making your life miserable.