Most estimates put the amount of individuals impacted by tinnitus in the millions or about one in every seven people. That’s… a lot of people, both in actual terms and relative to the general population, and in a few countries, the amount of the population who experience tinnitus is even more alarming.
True, tinnitus isn’t always recurring. But in those instances where buzzing, ringing, or humming in your ears is tough to shake, finding an effective treatment can very quickly become a priority. Fortunately, there is a remedy that has proven to be rather effective: hearing aids.
Tinnitus and hearing loss are connected but separate 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, treating hearing loss and stopping tinnitus in one fell swoop.
How Can Tinnitus be Managed by Hearing Aids?
Hearing aids have, according to one survey, been documented to give tinnitus relief to up to 60% of participants. Approximately 22% of those surveyed reported significant relief. However, hearing aids are not designed specifically to treat tinnitus. The benefits appear to come by association. 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 tinnitus symptoms can be reduced with hearing aids:
- Everything gets a little bit louder: When you experience loss of hearing, the volume of the world (or, at least, specific frequencies of the world) can fade away and become quieter. When that occurs the ringing in your ears becomes a lot more noticeable. Hearing loss is not affecting the ringing so it becomes the most pronounced thing you hear. A hearing aid can increase that surrounding sound, helping to mask the buzzing or ringing that was so prominent before. Tinnitus becomes less of a problem as you pay less attention to it.
- Conversations become easier: Amplifying human speech is something modern hearing aids are particularly good at. So once you’re wearing your hearing aids regularly, carrying on conversations gets a lot easier. You will be more engaged with your co-worker’s story about their children and better able to participate with your spouse about how their day went. When you have a healthy involved social life tinnitus can seem to fade into the background. At times, tinnitus is worsened by stress so being able to socialize can helps in this way too.
- The enhanced audio stimulation is keeping your brain fit: Hearing loss has been confirmed to put stress on mental function. Using a hearing aid can keep the audio centers of your brain limber and healthy, which as a result can help minimize some tinnitus symptoms you might be experiencing.
The Perks of Modern Hearing Aids
Smart Technology is built into modern hearing aids. They come with innovative hearing assistance algorithms and the latest technology. But it’s the ability to personalize a hearing aid to the distinct user’s needs that makes modern hearing aids so effective (they can even detect the amount of background noise and automatically recalibrate accordingly).
Personalizing hearing aids means that the sensitivity and output signals can conveniently be calibrated to the particular hearing levels you might have. The better your hearings aid works for you, the more likely they are to help you mask the buzzing or humming from tinnitus.
The Best Way to Stop Tinnitus
This will probably depend on your degree of hearing impairment. 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 options.
However, if you’re one of the many individuals out there who happen to suffer from both hearing loss and tinnitus, a pair of hearing aids could be able to do the old two-birds-one-stone thing. Stop tinnitus from making your life miserable by treating your hearing loss with a good pair of hearing aids.