Most estimates put the number of people impacted by tinnitus in the millions or around one in every seven people. That’s… a lot of people, both in actual terms and in relation to the general population, and in some countries, the amount of the population who experience tinnitus is even more alarming.
Sometimes tinnitus is goes away on it’s own. But if you’re coping with chronic tinnitus symptoms it becomes imperative to find a remedy 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. you can have hearing loss without tinnitus or tinnitus without hearing loss. But both conditions coexist frequently enough that hearing aids have become a practical solution, treating hearing loss and stopping tinnitus all at once.
How Can Tinnitus be Helped by Hearing Aids?
Hearing aids have, based on one survey, been documented to give tinnitus relief to up to 60% of participants. Approximately 22% of everyone surveyed went so far as to report significant relief. In spite of this, hearing aids are actually made to manage hearing loss not specifically tinnitus. Association appears to be the main 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 tinnitus symptoms can be decreased with hearing aids:
- External sounds are boosted: The volume of certain frequencies of the world become quieter when have 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 masked when your hearing aid boosts the outside sound. As you tune out your tinnitus, it becomes less of an issue.
- It gets easier to have conversations: Amplifying human speech is something contemporary hearing aids are particularly good at. This means having a conversation can become much easier once you’re regularly wearing your devices. 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 interactive social life tinnitus can appear to disappear into the background. Interacting socially also helps reduce stress, which is linked to tinnitus.
- Your brain is getting an auditory workout: When you have hearing loss, those parts of your brain charged with interpreting sounds can frequently suffer from fatigue, stress, or atrophy. Wearing a hearing aid can keep the audio centers of your brain flexible and healthy, which in turn can help minimize certain tinnitus symptoms you might be experiencing.
Modern Hearing Aids Come With Several Benefits
Modern hearing aids are intelligent. They include 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 (sometimes, they recalibrate according to the amount of background noise).
Whatever your particular hearing levels are, customized hearing aids can conveniently be calibrated to them. The better your hearings aid works for you, the more likely they are to help you cover up the humming or buzzing from tinnitus.
What is The Best Way to End Tinnitus?
Your degree of hearing loss will determine what’s best for you. There are still treatment solutions for your tinnitus even if you don’t have any hearing impairment. That could mean custom-created masking devices, medication, or cognitive behavioral therapy.
However, if you’re one of the many people out there who happen to suffer from both hearing loss and tinnitus, a pair of hearing aids might be able to do the old two-birds-one-stone thing. Managing your hearing impairment with a good set of hearing aids can often stop tinnitus from making your life difficult.
