Along with hearing loss, tinnitus is the most common sensory disorder on the planet! More than 1.5 billion people worldwide live with tinnitus and every single one of them has a different experience with it. The formal definition of tinnitus is a phantom perception of sound in the ears and sometimes head. Most would describe it as a ringing, swooshing, buzzing, or shooshing sound in their ears. Each person’s perception of their tinnitus is different based on what caused the tinnitus as well as their coping skills and history with mental illness, depression and anxiety as these things all factor into how bothersome the tinnitus can become.

Tinnitus can affect people’s sleep patterns, their thoughts and emotions, and ability to work and concentrate. It can cause feelings of frustration, fear, depression, anxiety, isolation, and embarrassment. It can get in the way of their hearing as well (even those who don’t perceive they have a hearing loss). Not everyone with tinnitus has hearing loss but about 90% do have some degree of loss, and the opposite is also true with 90% of people with hearing loss having tinnitus.

Tinnitus is not a disease, but rather a symptom of an underlying health condition. A small portion of tinnitus cases are caused by middle and inner ear troubles (i.e. ear infections, perforated eardrum, wax build up, acoustic neuromas, etc.) which can be addressed by an Ear, Nose & Throat specialist. However, the #1 cause of tinnitus is aging, followed by noise exposure, medical conditions (i.e. diabetes, heart disease, etc.), medications (i.e. chemo treatment, some pain killers, etc.), and viruses (i.e. Covid). For most people, tinnitus starts in their 40s or 50s and can get worse over time without treatment.

Regardless of the cause, the underlying issue in almost everyone is the same – a breakdown of the neural connections between the ear and the brain. When the brain is not adequately stimulated by the ears it will increase neural activity to make up for the missing input and the result is the sound of tinnitus.

The most effective and efficient treatment for tinnitus is to restore activity to the ear-to-brain neural connections by stimulating the brain with sound. Under-stimulated neurons will not function properly, get “bored” over time, and eventually become permanently inactive. It is a “use it or lose it” situation. Prescription hearing aids are the best method to stop this and to preserve the function of the remaining neural connections.

Clinically prescribed hearing aids restore the environmental sounds that many people may not notice they are missing, which stimulates the brain and also gives the person something else to focus on rather than the tinnitus. A large part of living with tinnitus is learning not to focus on it and distracting the mind with all the sounds of the environment is one way to help with this. There is also a theory that when hearing aids are worn the person does not have to strain to hear as much as without the amplification, therefore there is less stress on the brain so the tinnitus will subside.

Another way hearing aids can help is with built in masking noises. Most people find benefit with standard prescribed hearing aid amplification, but some like the added help of another noise to pull their attention from the tinnitus. This can be a static white noise, beach waves of varying frequency, or a low crowd noise. Working with a hearing healthcare provider to find the tailored sound that works best for each individual person is an important part of this process.

It can take up to 60 days (sometimes longer for more difficult cases) to see the full benefit of hearing aids for tinnitus, but it is the single most effective treatment option available to those suffering with tinnitus. Between 2010 to 2020 there were 34 peer-reviewed scientific studies conducted and in all 34 studies subjects noticed a significant decrease in their tinnitus with hearing aid use. Other methods such as medications, vitamin supplements, external masking devices (fans, TV noise while sleeping, noise machines, smart phone apps, etc.) do not have the proven benefits that prescription hearing aids do.

If you’re bothered by tinnitus or hearing loss talk your hearing healthcare provider about how you can get started on your journey to better hearing health!