At one point or another in your life you’ve probably heard some ringing in your ears. That ringing is called tinnitus. According to most studies, 15-20% of people experience tinnitus at any given time. In most cases, it’s fleeting. But chronic tinnitus, a ringing that won’t go away, can be unpleasant and upsetting. The most prevalent treatment for tinnitus is, fortunately, relatively straightforward: hearing aids.
Dealing With Persistent Tinnitus
Some of the many reasons why tinnitus develops are pretty easy to understand, others not so much. Tinnitus can also manifest as a wide variety of objective or subjective noises, from pounding to clanging to metal buzz-saw sounds, whatever loud cacophony your ears can create.
And tinnitus gets more obnoxious as the sounds become noisier. Over time, tinnitus can cause declines in mental health, create trouble communicating, and interfere with your daily life.
Tinnitus And Hearing Aids
While there is often no way to cure the inherent cause of tinnitus, hearing aids have become quite skilled at treating tinnitus symptoms. Hearing aids are capable of accomplishing this in a few ways.
Making The Ringing in Your Ears Less Noticeable
Tinnitus and hearing loss frequently manifest hand in hand. They can have the same underlying cause or not. But it’s very likely that your tinnitus will worsen as your hearing loss declines. There’s not as much competition, and that buzzing or ringing can really be noticeable (it’s like winning American Idol in a year with sub-par contestants).
When you’re wearing hearing aids the sounds of the external world will be turned up. Your tinnitus will once again, to your relief, disappear into the background. This can help you focus on and enjoy the day-to-day.
Canceling Out The Noise
Of course, there’s a difference between overwhelming your tinnitus and masking your tinnitus. That’s the reason why many contemporary hearing aids will utilize a specialized twist on noise-canceling technology to help deal with the ringing and buzzing. Specific white noise frequencies can be tuned into your hearing aids that can help decrease tinnitus symptoms. Utilizing this kind of technology, you will be less aware of tinnitus noises.
This capability isn’t available on all hearing aids, so you’ll need to talk with us to learn what will work best for you.
There’s no cure for most kinds of chronic tinnitus. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find a way to deal with it. The buzzing, ringing, and other tinnitus-related sounds will be gone and you will be able to experience a full life with hearing aids that are calibrated precisely. For most people who live with tinnitus, hearing aids are ideal.