Do you suffer from Tinnitus or a ringing in your ears. At some point in time, someone must have told you that hearing aids can help. But, can hearing aids really help you find Tinnitus relief? Can just wearing hearing aids reduce, control or even stop your Tinnitus? Let’s explore.
When Can Hearing Aids Potentially Help You with Your Tinnitus?
- When you have some form of hearing loss (Partial/Hidden/Full) (It is estimated that 90% of Tinnitus patients also suffer from full or partial hearing loss!)
- You DON’T suffer from hyperacusis or any form of sound sensitivity
- You’ve had Tinnitus for less than 2 years (A longer history lowers chances of hearing aids helping you with your Tinnitus)
- You are less than 40 years old
- You can wear hearing aids for every waking moment
Let’s look at the above qualifying factors in more detail.
What is Your Tinnitus Handicap Score?
Calculate your THI Score in about 2-3 Minutes
Hearing Aids for Tinnitus? When it’s most likely to work?
When you have some form of hearing loss (Partial/Hidden/Full)
Remember we mentioned that 90% of Tinnitus patients also have some sort of hearing loss. While full hearing loss is very obvious to recognize, partial hearing loss isn’t. A lot of people will be surprised to know that they can clearly hear other people speak and still have hearing loss. This is called hidden or partial hearing loss. The human ear can hear a very wide range of frequencies, from 20 Hz all the way to 20 kHz. That’s a very wide range. This study estimates that 12% to 15% of the population has hidden hearing loss but will never be diagnosed for it, simply because they think their hearing is fine.
But, how does hidden, partial or even full hearing loss cause Tinnitus in the first place?
This is explained by a phenomenon called a maladaptive neuroplasticity change. Neuroplasticity is when your brain rewires itself to function better. For example, when you want to learn a foreign language, neurons and pathways rearrange themselves to help you acquire this new skill that then lets you learn a new tongue.
How Severe is Your Tinnitus?
Find out by using this THI (Tinnitus Handicap Inventory) Scoring Calculator
How to find out if you have hidden or partial hearing loss?
A hearing test administered by an audiologist is the best way to accomplish that. But, this online hearing test is a good starting point!
When you have some form of hearing loss, your brain unfortunately applies this neuroplasticity to provide an adverse effect.
It first registers the fact that your auditory signals are on the decline, demonstrated by your inability to hear some frequencies. It then begins to invent a phantom noise at these frequencies, in an attempt to make your ears hear again, even if its all in your head. This phantom noise is what you hear as Tinnitus.
The only way to potentially reverse this neuroplasticity change is to use hearing aids to help you hear those otherwise mute frequencies again. When your brain registers a normal resumption of auditory signals in all frequency ranges it is usually used to, it could shut off the ringing in your ears.
You DON’T suffer from hyperacusis or any form of sound sensitivity
Hearing aids work by amplifying sounds at frequencies that you can’t hear or can’t hear very well. Amplification therefore means an increase in auditory inputs to your brain. But, if you suffer from hyperacusis or some form of sound sensitivity, hearing aids can make your hearing worse by damaging the cochlea that is sensitive to loud noises. Continuing to use hearing aids despite having hyperacusis or sensitivity can even make your Tinnitus worse. Your hearing might also decline.
Was your Tinnitus caused by exposure to loud noise. It is imperative that you protect your ears against loud noise. Read this Tinnitus ear plug buying guide.
Your cochlea has about 20,000 delicate hair like cells that basically dance and sway in response to the sounds you hear. When there’s too much loud noise, some of these hair cells die. Their death is permanent as they can’t rejuvenate themselves.
So, if you have hyperacusis or sound sensitivity, hearing aids should not be used to seek Tinnitus relief. It’s usually counterproductive.
You’ve had Tinnitus for less than 2 years (A longer history lowers chances of hearing aids helping you with your Tinnitus)
The sooner you try hearing aids after the onset of your Tinnitus, the better your chances of experiencing Tinnitus relief, if Tinnitus was caused by hearing loss. Remember that hearing loss progresses with age. If you have hearing loss, it is going to get worse with time. Using hearing aids can keep your both your hearing and your brain’s auditory processing in good health.
Remember the neuroplasticity we talked about earlier? That declines with age as well. So, if you try hearing aids after having Tinnitus for more than about 2 years, your brain finds it harder to unlearn and shut off the phantom noise it invented.
You are less than 40 years old
Age-related hearing loss usually begins at 40 years of age. The natural onset of hearing loss is called Presbycusis or Presbyacusis. It is mostly caused by hereditary conditions. It can also be caused by repeated exposure to loud noise. Smoking can also speed up natural hearing loss.
The younger you are, the better chances you have of hearing aids being able to restore a normal level of hearing. As you already know by now, having normal hearing can put your Tinnitus to rest, if it was the hearing loss that caused Tinnitus in the first place.
You can wear hearing aids for every waking moment
Hearing aids work best when you can wear them for every waking moment. Using them intermittently will not allow your brain to reverse the maladaptive neuroplasticity changes it made to invent the Tinnitus sound. Intermittent use can however help you hear better. But, it is unlikely that infrequent usage can put an end to your Tinnitus.
How Much Tinnitus Relief Can Hearing Aids Provide?
There is no exact number-answer to this question. The best data we can point to is this survey where 175 audiologists, 48 hearing instrument specialists and 7 professionals practising hearing specialties in the USA and Canada reported their findings about how much Tinnitus relief can hearing aids provide. They reported the following findings;
- 39% found no relief
- 16.6% experienced minor relief
- 21.4% experienced moderate relief
- 22.1% experienced major relief
- 1.7% experienced a worsening of their Tinnitus
How Do Hearing Aids Provide Tinnitus Relief?
As mentioned earlier, hearing aids provide Tinnitus relief by helping you hear frequencies that you couldn’t hear before. When your brain receives auditory signals from your ears that it didn’t receive before, it shuts off the Tinnitus sound it invented to compensate for your hearing loss in the first place.
Hearing aids do this by;
Enhancing environmental noise – Allow you to hear environmental sounds that you couldn’t hear before. The supply of new auditory inputs will make your brain focus less on the Tinnitus, sometimes even helping it completely ignore the ringing.
By Stimulating Auditory Pathways – Hearing aids make your auditory pathways healthy again. Promotion of general auditory health betters your chance of experiencing Tinnitus relief or even resolution.
By Reducing Stress and Anxiety – When the ringing is all that you can hear and think about, your body and mind is subject to a lot of stress and anxiety. Stress makes Tinnitus worse. Hearing aids can help you normally hear people talk again. You can have conversations and focus on a social life. This can in turn allow you to reduce stress and anxiety and give your Tinnitus a chance to take a back seat or resolve itself.
How to Choose Hearing Aids That Can Help You With Tinnitus?
If you think hearing aids can help you find Tinnitus relief after reading all the information above, here’s how you should go about choosing the best hearing aids to help you with your Tinnitus.
Affording it
Hearing aids are expensive. In the U.S.A, they can cost anywhere between $1,000 to $5,000. Please remember that hearing aids have to be customized to suit your individual hearing profile. Buying online hearing aids with no personalized configuration can result in over-amplification or under-amplification that can make your hearing and Tinnitus much worse.
Your journey to buy hearing aids for Tinnitus MUST begin at an audiologists office. The good news is that the $1,000 to $5,000 price usually includes the bundled service price. A bundled service includes a hearing test, personalized fitting, on going adjustments and even things like battery replacements or repairs. If you live in the UK, the NHS might be able to provide hearing aids free of cost, although you won’t have a choice in the aids you are given.
The cost of hearing aids are usually not covered by insurance plans in the U.S.A or UK or any other part of the world for that matter. It can be a pretty steep out-of-pocket expense for many. You must also be prepared for the possibility of hearing aids not being able to provide you Tinnitus relief as well.
Two Hearing Aids are Better than One
You ideally want hearing aids that are bilateral or go on both ears. Using hearing aids on only just one ear can affect auditory symmetry that can make your Tinnitus or hearing loss worse in the long run. This Harvard Health article explains three advantages to wearing hearing aids in both ears.
Masking Feature
Many hearing aids designed to provide Tinnitus relief come with a masking feature. This is when the hearing aid can provide both amplification and also a soothing white noise like sound (waves, rain, fire etc) to help you focus less on your ringing.
While masking is useful to distract yourself from Tinnitus, you must know that it only provides a temporary relief. But, if the masking frequency can exactly match your Tinnitus frequency, you can essentially not hear the ringing anymore. Learn more about how and if Tinnitus masking works here.
Hearing aids with masking can however drive up the cost of hearing aids quite a bit.
An Open-Fit
Ideally, you want an open-fit pair of hearing aids. These deliver amplified sounds that are delivered by a tube-like speaker directly into the ear canal. Such hearing aids can prevent what is called a occlusion or resonance effect. In other words, amplified sounds will not sound like you are sticking your head into a barrel.
Should You Try Hearing Aids for Tinnitus Relief?
To summarize, we would first say that hearing aids can help you with Tinnitus only if you have hearing loss. You can consider hearing aids for Tinnitus relief if your Tinnitus came on fairly recently. How recently? Less than 2 years is ideal. For any longer, it is probably unlikely that you will get relief. Your chances of seeking relief are also higher if you are less than 40 years old and do not have hyperacusis or sound sensitivity.
If you meet this criteria, you must also consider if you can afford hearing aids as it is usually not covered by health insurance plans. They are not guaranteed to work either, making the already high price a particularly difficult purchase decision to take a call on. Also, please note that in some rare cases, hearing aids can make your tinnitus worse, although it is usually a temporary effect.
Also Read: Eargo hearing aids and Tinnitus
