For some, symptoms of tinnitus - a buzzing, clicking, chirping, or ringing noise in the ears - can be the most distracting and annoying health issue that one can have. It can interfere with your entire life.
This past year, about 10 percent of the U.S. population - about 25 million Americans - have experienced tinnitus that lasted for at least five minutes. For some people, the condition is chronic. Some have felt so hopeless that they may not even bother to bring it up to a healthcare provider. Hearing aids or sound therapies are proven treatments for tinnitus. These treatments don’t work for everybody, but some have marveled at the lack of tinnitus symptoms. Let’s learn more about the link between hearing loss and tinnitus - and why hearing aids are helpful in some cases to relieve symptoms of tinnitus. Tinnitus and Hearing Loss usually go Hand-and-Hand. Tinnitus and hearing loss usually happen simultaneously. Not all people with tinnitus have hearing loss, but they are common comorbidities. There are often moments when a patient will complain about hearing noises and not hearing loss. When they receive a hearing test, the hearing test administrator will usually reveal that the patient has hearing loss that they are unaware of. It’s still uncertain as to why this happens. The specific workings and causes of tinnitus are still under research. Studies on animals demonstrate that just about anything that causes hearing loss will also cause tinnitus. Like hearing, tinnitus occurs in the brain and not in your ears. With hearing loss, your brain misses information, so you cannot process it. To try and restore the missing input, the auditory neurons found in the brain become hyperactive and fail. As a result, tinnitus occurs. Hearing Aids are Helpful for Some Hearing aids cannot restore hearing, but they can help restore auditory stimulation to the brain. Essentially, your brain becomes hyperactive when you have hearing loss. The nerve cells in the dorsal cochlear nucleus are overactive and may misinterpret as sound. In theory, because hearing aids restore some of the stimulation that’s been missing in the brain, they may help manage tinnitus. Hearing Aids can be Programmed to let You Hear or Block out Background Noise. If you are in a busy environment and want to hear the people who came out with you, hearing aids use directional microphones that may be programmed to hear only their voices while blocking out distracting background noise. Hearing aids can also help you hear quiet background noises. The ability to listen to these subtle background noises creates more contrast in the brain against tinnitus. Hearing Aids may lower Stress Levels. Tinnitus can become a vicious cycle of stress and worsened symptoms. Work, relationships, and the inability to communicate with those around you can become anxiety-inducing too. Wearing hearing aids with a masking feature can help relieve the strain you may feel when trying to listen to others. What are Tinnitus Masking Features? Donning hearing aids lowers symptoms of tinnitus. Features that come with these devices can help too. Masking features that are available for hearing aids are white-noise sounds, like rain noise or rushing waters. It’s known as a tinnitus sound generator (TSG). When wearing them, you may no longer notice the symptoms. Hearing aids help the user make tinnitus more manageable by acclimating to the noise and using the hearing aids to control it. Hearing aids let you connect to a phone to stream soothing sounds from an app. Tinnitus Therapies There’s no cure for tinnitus, but sound therapies can help make them seem like it has temporarily gone away. Hearing aids are helpful,l but there’s no guarantee that they will be effective for everyone. They are a treatment option, not a cure. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is a form of therapy that helps people figure out how to deal with something that they cannot change. Tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) has methods to ignore tinnitus symptoms, along with coping strategies that include relaxation, visualization, and meditation. Everyone reacts differently to tinnitus, so experimenting with multiple techniques is crucial to finding the right therapy. Get a Hearing Test If you think you are noticing tinnitus or a loved one is complaining about hearing phantom noises, get a hearing test to find out. Contact us at Pure Sound Hearing for a complimentary hearing test and consultation. Comments are closed.
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