Around one in seven people are estimated to suffer from tinnitus. That puts the total number in the millions. That’s… a lot of people, both in actual terms and in relation to the overall population, and in some countries, the percentage of the population who experience tinnitus is even more startling.
Sometimes tinnitus is temporary. But if you’re dealing with chronic tinnitus symptoms it becomes crucial to find a solution as soon as you can. Fortunately, there is a remedy that has proven to be rather effective: hearing aids.
There are some links between tinnitus and hearing loss but they are actually 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 Hearing Aids Can Help Tinnitus
According to one study, 60% of people who suffer from tinnitus reported some measure of relief when they began using hearing aids. Approximately 22% of those surveyed went so far as to report considerable relief. In spite of this, hearing aids are actually designed to deal with hearing loss not specifically tinnitus. Association seems to be the principal reason for this benefit. So if you have tinnitus along with hearing loss then that’s when your hearing aids will most effectively treat the tinnitus symptoms.
Here’s how tinnitus symptoms can be decreased with hearing aids:
- Everything gets a little bit louder: When you have hearing loss, the volume of the world (or, at least, certain wavelengths of the world) can fall away and become quieter. The ringing in your ears, in that situation, is a lot more noticeable. Hearing loss is not affecting the ringing so it becomes the most pronounced thing you hear. A hearing aid can enhance that surrounding sound, helping to mask the buzzing or ringing that was so prominent before. Tinnitus becomes less of an issue as you pay less attention to it.
- It becomes less difficult to engage in conversations: Increasing the volume of human speech is something modern hearing aids are particularly good at. So once you’re using your hearing aids on a regular basis, having conversations gets much easier. You will be more involved with your co-worker’s story about their children and better able to participate with your spouse about how their day went. The more you connect with others, the more social you are, the less you’ll detect your tinnitus. Sometimes, tinnitus is worsened by stress so being able to socialize can helps in this way also.
- Your brain is getting an auditory workout: Hearing loss has been proven to put a strain on cognitive function. Tinnitus symptoms you may be experiencing can be decreased when the brain is in a healthy flexible condition and hearing aids can help maintain this.
The Perks of Modern Hearing Aids
Smart Technology is built into modern hearing aids. They include innovative hearing assistance algorithms and the newest technology. But the efficiency of modern hearing aids is attained in part because each device can be customized and calibrated on a patient-per-patient basis (sometimes, they recalibrate based on the amount of background noise).
Whatever your specific hearing levels are, customized hearing aids can conveniently be calibrated to them. The humming or buzzing is more likely to be effectively obscured if your hearing aid is dialed in to work best for you.
The Best Way to Stop Tinnitus
This will likely depend on your degree of hearing loss. There are still treatment solutions for your tinnitus even if you don’t have any hearing impairment. 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 could be able to do the old two-birds-one-stone thing. Managing your hearing loss with a good pair of hearing aids can often stop tinnitus from making your life difficult.