Did You Know That A Hearing Aid Can Help You With The Ringing In Your Ears?
Do you often hear a noise in your head? You might have tinnitus. Tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, is the sensation of hearing ringing, buzzing, hissing, chirping, whistling, or other sounds. The noise can be intermittent or continuous, and can vary in loudness. Sometimes, people develop tinnitus as a symptom of hearing loss, caused either by age, long-term hearing damage, or acute trauma to the auditory system. According to the general scientific consensus, hearing loss causes less external sound stimuli to reach the brain. In response, the brain undergoes neuroplastic changes in how it processes different sound frequencies. Tinnitus is the product of these maladaptive neuroplastic changes. While there is no medical cure, patients with hearing loss and tinnitus may find relief from the use of hearing aids and other sound amplification devices. Hearing aids are small electronic devices worn in or behind the ear. Using a microphone, amplifier, and speaker, hearing aids supplement the volume of outside noise and increase the amount of sound stimuli received and processed by the body’s auditory system.
In a 2007 survey of hearing health professionals, respondents self-reported that roughly 60% of their tinnitus patients experienced at least some relief when wearing hearing aids; roughly 22% patients found significant relief. Of you have tinnitus, the first step is to get your hearing checked by a regulated audiologist. If you have an accompanying hearing loss, a trial of hearing aids might provide you with some benefit. In addition to just hearing aids, there are other devices that might help. For example, masking devices, either built in to the hearing aids, or used as an external source might also provide one with some benefit.
Providing one with auditory stimuli has been found to be beneficial in the increasing of external noise which subsequently increases the amount of auditory stimulation received by the brain. There may be benefits to stimulating the brain’s auditory pathways with soft background sounds that might not otherwise be heard.
If you need help with your tinnitus, come see our Doctor of Audiology for a no obligation trial of hearing aids or masking devices. No referral is required. We deal with all insurance companies, as well as WSIB, DVA and ODSP.Why trust your hearing to anyone else?