Around one out of every seven people are estimated to deal with tinnitus. That puts the total number in the millions. In a few countries, the numbers are even higher and that’s pretty alarming.
True, tinnitus isn’t always chronic. But if you’re coping with chronic tinnitus symptoms it becomes imperative to find a solution as soon as possible. One of the most beneficial of such treatments is already quite common: hearing aids.
Tinnitus and hearing loss are related but distinct conditions. you can have hearing loss without tinnitus or tinnitus without hearing loss. But both conditions occur together often enough that hearing aids have become a practical solution, managing hearing loss and stopping tinnitus all at once.
How Can Tinnitus be Helped by Hearing Aids?
According to one survey, 60% of individuals who suffer from tinnitus noticed some amount of relief when they started using hearing aids. Approximately 22% of everyone surveyed reported significant relief. Despite this, hearing aids are actually made to manage hearing loss not specifically tinnitus. The benefits appear to come by association. So if you have tinnitus and 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:
- External sounds are enhanced: When you experience hearing loss, the volume of the outside world (or, at least, certain frequencies of the world) can fall away and become more silent. The ringing in your ears, then, is much more noticeable. It’s the loudest thing you hear because it is not impacted by your hearing loss. The buzzing or ringing that was so prominent will be masked when your hearing aid boosts the outside sound. Tinnitus becomes less of a problem as you pay less attention to it.
- Conversations become easier: Amplifying human speech is something contemporary hearing aids are particularly good at. This means carrying on a conversation can become much easier once you’re routinely wearing your devices. You can follow the story Carl 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. Socializing also helps decrease stress, which is associated with tinnitus.
- Your brain is getting an auditory workout: When you have hearing loss, those portions of your brain tasked with interpreting sounds can often suffer from stress, fatigue, or atrophy. Wearing a hearing aid can keep the audio centers of your brain limber and healthy, which in turn can help reduce certain tinnitus symptoms you might be experiencing.
The Advantages of Modern Hearing Aids
Smart Technology is incorporated into modern hearing aids. They come with innovative hearing assistance algorithms and the latest technology. But it’s the ability to customize a hearing aid to the specific user’s requirements that makes modern hearing aids so effective (sometimes, they recalibrate according to the level 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.
The Best Way to Get Rid of Tinnitus
Your level of hearing loss will determine what’s best 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, medication, or cognitive behavioral therapy.
But, if you’re one of the many people out there who happen to suffer from both hearing impairment and tinnitus, a pair of hearing aids may be able to do the old two-birds-one-stone thing. Stop tinnitus from making your life difficult by managing your hearing loss with a good set of hearing aids.