In the United States, tinnitus affects 20 percent of the entire population, and hearing loss is present in 90 percent of those cases.
With such a substantial relationship between tinnitus and hearing loss, you would think that people would be more inclined to seek treatment for one or both ailments.
But believe it or not we find the opposite. Among those who bypass treatment for hearing loss, 39 percent (9 million people) do so because they believe nothing can be done about their tinnitus.
That’s 9 million people that are suffering unnecessarily when a treatment is available that could both improve hearing and relieve tinnitus at the same time.
That treatment method is the professional fitting of hearing aids.
In a recent survey of hearing health professionals, it was found that 60 percent of patients confirmed some amount of tinnitus relief when using hearing aids, while 22 percent confirmed substantial relief.
Based on these numbers, if the 9 million who have given up on tinnitus utilized hearing aids, 5.4 million would realize some amount of relief and about 2 million would achieve substantial relief.
But how do hearing aids actually mitigate the severity of tinnitus?
The scientific agreement is that hearing loss brings about diminished sound stimulation reaching the brain. In response, the brain experiences maladaptive neurological changes that produce the perception of sound when no external sound source is present.
It’s this personal nature that makes tinnitus so perplexing to diagnose and treat, and why medications or surgical procedures tend to have little to no effect. There’s simply no physical structure to repair or chemistry to modify.
But there is a way to reach the perception of sound, a way to help the brain adjust or reverse its response to reduced sound stimulation.
With the help of hearing aids, amplified sound can help readjust the brain to healthy levels of sound stimulation and concurrently supply a masking effect for the sounds of tinnitus.
For patients with hearing loss, tinnitus is more disturbing because the tinnitus is louder compared to the volume of exterior sound. By turning up the volume on external sound, tinnitus can disappear into the background.
On top of that, some hearing aids can furnish sound therapy directly to the user, which can be tailored for each person.
Hearing aids, combined with sound and behavioral therapy, are at this time the best tinnitus treatment options available. Many patients describe some extent of relief and many patients report significant relief.
Are you ready to give hearing aids a chance? Schedule a consultation today!
