Around one out of every seven people are estimated to deal with 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 several countries, the amount of the population who experience tinnitus is even more startling.
True, tinnitus isn’t always recurring. But in those instances where buzzing, ringing, or humming in your ears is hard to get rid of, finding a reliable treatment can very quickly become a priority. One of the most beneficial of such solutions is already quite common: hearing aids.
Hearing loss and tinnitus are connected but separate conditions. you can have hearing loss without tinnitus or tinnitus without hearing loss. But the two conditions occur together often enough that hearing aids have become a dependable solution, treating hearing loss and stopping tinnitus in one fell swoop.
How Hearing Aids Can Treat Tinnitus
Hearing aids have, based on one survey, been reported to give relief of tinnitus symptoms for up to 60% of participants. For 22% of those individuals, the relief was significant. In spite of this, hearing aids are actually made to manage hearing loss not specifically tinnitus. The benefits appear to come by association. As such, hearing aids appear to be most practical if you have tinnitus and hearing loss.
Here’s how tinnitus symptoms can be reduced with hearing aids:
- External sounds are boosted: The volume of some of the wavelengths of the world become quieter when have hearing loss. The ringing in your ears, then, is a lot more noticeable. Hearing loss is not affecting 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 pay less and less attention to your tinnitus, it becomes less of a problem.
- It gets easier to engage in conversations: Amplifying human speech is something contemporary hearing aids are particularly good at. So once you’re using your hearing aids on a regular basis, carrying on conversations becomes a lot easier. You can follow the story Carl is telling at happy hour or listen to what Nancy is excited about at work. The more you interact with others, the more social you are, the less you’ll detect your tinnitus. Socializing also helps reduce stress, which is related to tinnitus.
- The enhanced audio stimulation is keeping your brain fit: When you have hearing loss, those portions of your brain charged with interpreting sounds can frequently suffer from fatigue, stress, or atrophy. Tinnitus symptoms you might be experiencing can be reduced when the brain is in a healthy limber condition and hearing aids can help maintain this.
Modern Hearing Aids Come With Many Benefits
Smart Technology is incorporated into modern hearing aids. To some extent, that’s because they incorporate the latest technologies and hearing assistance algorithms. But the effectiveness of modern hearing aids is accomplished 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).
Personalizing hearing aids means that the sensitivity and output signals can easily be calibrated to the specific hearing levels you may have. 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 Stop Tinnitus
Your degree of hearing impairment will determine what’s best for you. There are still treatment solutions for your tinnitus even if you don’t have any hearing impairment. Cognitive behavioral therapy, a custom masking device, or medication are some possible solutions.
But, if you’re one of the many individuals 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. Stop tinnitus from making your life miserable by treating your hearing loss with a good pair of hearing aids.