Sometimes a person tends to hear sounds that are not really present physically. It might have often happened to you that you’re hearing a beeping sound in your ears even though there is nothing causing the sound. You might also hear a ringing or whistling sound, or just hissing. This problem is known as tinnitus.
Tinnitus is a hearing condition where you often hear the mentioned sounds despite their not being physically present around you. If you hear them in an unlikely manner from time to time, it is likely that you have tinnitus. But no need to worry, as now there are different modern hearing aids that can help you with tinnitus.
Why and How Tinnitus is Caused
Tinnitus is a problem that people of all ages and backgrounds might face. But older people and people that get exposed to loud noises regularly are at more risk than others. Some of the causes of Tinnitus are given below.
Loud Noise
If you get exposed to really loud music or other louder noises such as gunshots, explosions, noises of machinery, or construction, it might develop tinnitus in you.
Medications
You can have tinnitus as a side effect of some medications.
Aging
You can start suffering from many hearing problems including tinnitus, the more you age. Because the number of nerve fibers in your ears decreases with age.
There are also some other things that can cause tinnitus such as-
- Earwax blockage can cause tinnitus sometimes
- Neurological disorders might cause tinnitus
- Degeneration of bones in the middle of your ear can also cause it
- Injury to ears, head or neck, and also upper respiratory infections can cause tinnitus too
How Can You Treat Tinnitus?
If you are experiencing such problems that can be ruled as tinnitus, you first need to visit a medical professional to check if there is an underlying cause or sickness that is causing you the problems. If that’s the case, you should resort to treating them rather than tinnitus, and you will get rid of the problems. Or, if embedded earwax is the reason behind your tinnitus, you can get the earwax removed.
But, if you find out that you actually got tinnitus, it is difficult to treat. You should know that tinnitus can rarely be cured, you should rather manage it instead of treating it. But you can surely reduce its impact, and you can do it by using one of the most effective methods to use hearing aids with tinnitus masking functionality.
Do Hearing Aids Actually Help with Tinnitus?
Hearing aids have helped many people with tinnitus, but they might not be fully effective for some people. But when you combine sound therapy with other hearing strategies, hearing aids can provide a great deal of help. And an extensive treatment plan can help you get highly desirable outcomes.
If you have hearing problems too, apart from tinnitus, then hearing aids are the best solution anyway, as they will help you with external sounds and understanding speeches too. However, if your problems are just hearing the hissing, buzzing, or beeping sounds, then you might need to go through a combination of tinnitus treatments. This might include sound therapy, sound maskers, and others.
How Hearing Aids Can Help with Tinnitus
Given the primary purpose of hearing aids, you might think that they can only be used for hearing loss. But hearing aids can also help with tinnitus, whether there is also hearing loss or not. Hearing aids that can help with tinnitus have a particular functionality, known as ‘tinnitus masking’. Tinnitus masking is a process performed by hearing aids, which emit new sounds rather than amplifying existing sounds. Specially broadband or narrowband noises at low levels are emitted.
The idea of emitting new noises through a device for someone who is already hearing too many noises might seem odd, but the emitted noise tends to act as a masking sound for the noises caused by tinnitus. As you will be continuously experiencing the noise from your hearing aid, you will be less likely to notice tinnitus-related sounds. If the tinnitus sounds are like a candle in a dark room, where it shines brightly. And the sound masking is like other lights that make the room well-lit enough to make the candle almost disappear.
Things To Consider Before Getting Hearing Aids for Tinnitus
There are a few things that you need to consider before you are buying hearing aids to help you with your tinnitus problems. If you don’t take these things into consideration, you might face various problems after buying. Let’s have a look at those things.
Price
When you are going to buy hearing aids, you might often find that they can be really expensive, and furthermore, they are not often covered by insurance plans. Tinnitus patients that have low measured levels of hearing loss might find it difficult to find insurance coverage for hearing aids. So, you should be careful about the price of the hearing aids you are going to buy and make sure that it goes well with your budget. You can always find good hearing aids that are budget-friendly.
Lifestyle and Comfort
According to studies, hearing aids will be most effective, if you consistently use them during waking hours. This requires the patient to wear hearing aids on a full-time basis. So, make sure to get hearing aids that are comfortable enough for you to wear so that you can wear them all day without facing any kind of trouble or discomfort. Also, try to get the perfect design of hearing aid for you that will match your lifestyle properly.
Sound Sensitivity
Patients with hyperacusis or other forms of sound sensitivity can encounter some discomfort while using sound-amplifying devices, so be aware of it if you have sound sensitivity problems, and get hearing aids that will serve you well without triggering your sound sensitivity. Find the hearing aids that will provide the perfect sound masking for you, which won’t be sensitive at all.
Age
Even though hearing aids benefit most patients, some studies suggest that these devices are most effective for younger patients, and those with a shorter history of tinnitus. So, try to choose the hearing aids that go well with your age level or the time length of your problems.
Best Hearing Aids to Help with Tinnitus
There are some special hearing aids that will be best for helping you with tinnitus. There are some certain hearing aids that have tinnitus masking, which you can go for. Let’s look at some special types and designs that will be best for tinnitus.
– Nano Sigma
Nano Sigma is the powerful hearing aid from Nano digital hearing that will work best for tinnitus sufferers. With the Nano app, users can control the hearing aids and all their sound amplification and reductions for four different sound environments from their smartphone. The masking frequency can be adjusted too.
These hearing aids have advanced hearing aid chip technology, which is named “Audion 4”. These hearing aids are extremely discreet, and anyone will be barely able to notice the hearing aids while you’re wearing them.
Moreover, you can easily control your nano sigma hearing aids from your smartphone with the Nano mobile app. You can take a hearing test on the Nano app, and your hearing aid will be adjusted automatically based on that. Apart from its easy usage, this hearing aid also features noise reduction technology and directional microphone technology.
This hearing aid costs really less, and the company also provides a 45-day risk-free money-back guarantee with it, and you will also be provided with 100% coverage for any type of accidental damage or any defect or malfunctions. And the hearing aid ships with an instruction manual and cleaning materials for your convenience.
Reasons to Get This Hearing Aid
- Easy to Use
- Auto Adjustment via Nano App
- Can be Controlled From Smartphone
- Noise Reduction Technology
- Directional Microphone Technology
- Extremely Discreet Design
To Buy: nanohearingaids.com or call (480) 566-9589
– Oticon Tinnitus SoundSupport
Tinnitus SoundSupport is one of the best hearing aids for tinnitus, and it works by the addition of the sound to the sound you were already hearing. Oticon hearing aids such as Nera 2, Ria 2, and Alta 2 offer Tinnitus SoundSupport.
These hearing aids have built-in tinnitus technology management systems that can prove beneficial for tinnitus patients. Oticon hearing aids will offer a wide range of soothing sound effects such as a huge collection of ocean-themed sounds. You can also connect tinnitus-related apps with it that can be helpful too.
Reasons to Get This Hearing Aid
- Built-In Tinnitus Management System
- Wide Range of Soothing Sound Effects
- App Compatibility
- Huge Collection of Ocean-Themed Sounds
- Perfect Masking Technology
- Bluetooth Connectivity
- Rechargeable Battery
- Background Sound Enhancement
- Availability in Eight Colors
– Phonak Tinnitus Balance Hearing Aids
Phonak Hearing Aids trains the brain in such a way that it’ll reclassify tinnitus noise as unnecessary noises that blend and fade into the background. These high-tech hearing aids help the users focus less on Tinnitus and provide relief for the patients. Phonak Tinnitus Balance hearing aids are broadband noise generators and can give you further therapy with the help of your iPhone or Android app.
Reasons to Get This Hearing Aid
- Full Compatibility with Bluetooth Cell Phones
- Available with Portable Charger
- Great All-Around Sound Quality
- Hearing Aids for All Ages
- High Technology
– Widex Hearing Aids –
The Widex Zen Tinnitus amplifies sounds that the wearer wants to hear for tinnitus relief. It also offers them the ability to reduce stress and relax through Zen Tinnitus Therapy which is available in several models. There is also a model that is not a hearing aid but designed for people with tinnitus.
Reasons to Get This Hearing Aid
- Great “Smart” Features
- Zen Technology for Tinnitus
- Wide Range of Devices
- Compatible with iPhone
– Signia Primax
The Signia Primax is a product of the Siemens brand, and it has been proven to reduce listening effort for people with hearing loss problems. This hearing aid features excellent speech recognition from the SpeechMaster function and also provides sound protection and reverberation reduction with EchoShield. Several Primax hearing aid models offer tinnitus therapy to provide relief from the symptoms of tinnitus and reduce your problems and efforts for listening.
There are different versions of the Signia Primax, and among them, the Primax Pure, Primax Ace, Primax Motion, and Primax Insio offer sound therapy in the form of ocean sounds or static tones. These versions are available in different designs, such as receiver-in-canal, behind-the-ear, and in-the-ear styles, along with several performance levels too, such as the 7px, 5px, and 3px to treat various degrees of hearing loss.
Reasons to Get This Hearing Aid
- One of a Kind “Notch” Therapy
- Fully Remote Programming and Support Available
- Rechargeable and Traditional Battery Options
- iPhone Compatible
- Various Versions with Various Designs and Performance Levels
Final Words
So, if you are suffering from tinnitus and have to live through the unbearable sounds you keep hearing, you should go for sound masking therapy. And for that you must choose the best hearing aids for this task, that can provide sound masking smoothly and without any problems. And the above-mentioned designs can surely be of help, so you can go for one from the list without having any doubts.
References
- https://www.specsavers.ie/hearing/ear-health/tinnitus/whats-the-best-hearing-aid-for-me
- https://www.ata.org/managing-your-tinnitus/treatment-options/hearing-aids
- https://www.miracle-ear.com/hearing-diseases/tinnitus-ringing-ears/hearing-aids-for-tinnitus-treatment
- https://www.audiologyassociates.com/hearing-aids-news/can-a-hearing-aid-stop-tinnitus/
- https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/4-of-the-best-hearing-aids-for-tinnitus#how-can-hearing-aids-help