When you have hearing loss, amplification can help you hear regular sounds again so that you can disguise tinnitus noises and, over time, retrain your auditory system to work more properly, and because of that, hearing aids are the most often used remedy for tinnitus.
Table of Contents
What is Tinnitus?
When you hear ringing or other disturbances in one or both of your ears, it’s called tinnitus. Other people typically cannot hear the sounds you hear when you have tinnitus since it is not generated by an outside sound.
Tinnitus is typically brought on by an underlying ailment, such as hearing loss brought on by aging, an ear injury, or a circulatory issue. When the underlying cause of tinnitus is treated or other therapies are used to lessen or cover up the noise, tinnitus often gets better for many people.
How Common Is It?
Up to 50 million Americans—or 15% of the population—suffer from tinnitus, according to research. Two million people have severe and incapacitating instances of the twenty million people who experience chronic persistent tinnitus. Although it can occur in people with normal hearing, tinnitus is more frequent in those with hearing loss.
Tinnitus is usually brought on by one of the following:
- Hearing Loss – Your inner ear (cochlea), which contains small, sensitive hair cells, vibrates in response to sound waves. Electrical signals are sent off by this movement and travel up the nerve from your ear to your brain (auditory nerve). These impulses are interpreted as sound by your brain. As you get older or are often exposed to loud noises, the hairs inside your inner ear might get twisted or damaged, which can “leak” random electrical impulses to your brain and result in tinnitus.
- Infection or obstruction of the ear canal – A buildup of fluid (ear infection), earwax, dirt, or other foreign objects can cause your ear canals to get clogged. Tinnitus can be brought on by an obstruction that alters the pressure in your ear.
- Neck or head trauma – Injury to the head or neck can have an impact on the inner ear, hearing nerves, or hearing-related brain functions. Tinnitus is typically only present in one ear after such accidents.
- Numerous drugs may either produce or exacerbate tinnitus – Tinnitus often gets worse as these drugs are used at larger doses. When you stop taking these medications, the annoying noise frequently goes away.
Most Common Types of Tinnitus Noises
According to the American Tinnitus Association, these are the top seven tinnitus noises:
- Sound of a tea kettle
- Buzzing
- Static
- Screeching
- Electric
- Roaring
Best Hearing Aids for Tinnitus in 2022
What part do hearing aids play in tinnitus treatment? Is it possible to eliminate tinnitus with them? I guess not quite. There is currently no known treatment for tinnitus. Contrarily, utilizing integrated sound maskers to control tinnitus symptoms and “filling in the gaps” left by hearing loss, hearing aids can considerably reduce tinnitus.
You can fill the sound hole caused by hearing loss by using hearing aids to manage your hearing loss. A 2007 survey of medical professionals found that 60% of their tinnitus patients said wearing hearing aids gave at least some relief. About 22 of the individuals claimed the alleviation was substantial.
Oticon Tinnitus Sound Support
Different Oticon hearing aid models and technological levels provide tinnitus sound support features. All of the tinnitus features are activated using the Genie 2 software, which audiologists use to set up hearing aids in the clinic.
Both broadband and natural sounds are available as tinnitus treatment options in the program. There are four different broadband noises available for selection.
Starkey Multiflex Tinnitus Feature
Various of Starkey’s hearing aid models come with the Multiflex Tinnitus feature, which supports hearing aids of all technological levels. The tinnitus characteristics must be programmed using Starkey’s Inspire hearing aid fitting software.
Widex Zen Therapy
Since the launch of its Zen Tinnitus Management Program in 2012, Widex has led the field of tinnitus therapy. The Zen programs from Widex are well-known, and your audiologist has to activate each one in the COMPASS GPS hearing aid software. Widex-only Zen treatment method makes use of sounds referred to as fractal tones.
Signia Notch Therapy
Signia offers tinnitus therapy, which must be tailored using their Connexx hearing aid creator program. It comes in several designs and technological levels.