Tinnitus

If you’ve ever experienced an annoying ringing, buzzing, or whistling in your ears, then you’re all too familiar with tinnitus. Tinnitus often accompanies hearing loss or can even be an early warning sign of hearing loss. But what exactly is tinnitus, and how can we treat it?

“Do you hear that buzzing sound?” If you’ve been asking your family if they can hear a sound no one else seems to hear, and they don’t have a clue what you’re talking about, then you’re experiencing tinnitus.

Tinnitus is the perception of sound in your ears when there are no external sounds in your environment. It can be a roaring, buzzing, whistling, or chirping sound, and for many people, these sounds are extremely annoying or distressing.

It can be mild and intermittent, or it can be a constant source of irritation and stress, affecting sleep, job performance, concentration, and quality of life.

Who Has Tinnitus?

Tinnitus is a lot more common that you might think and affects nearly 50 million Americans. A recent study from the University of California, Irvine, studied data from more than 75,000 Americans, and found that 10% of adults have had tinnitus during the last year! Of those who experienced tinnitus, 36% struggled with constant symptoms that impacted their daily lives.


What Causes Tinnitus?

Around 90% of those with tinnitus have suffered from noise-induced hearing loss, suggesting a strong link between exposure to dangerously loud noises and tinnitus. Aging is another cause of tinnitus, since cells in your ear naturally deteriorate over time, leading to hearing loss and tinnitus. Some medications can cause tinnitus, as well as certain health conditions like cardiovascular disease, hypertension, or stress, and habits like overconsumption of caffeine, or smoking.


Treatment Options

Unfortunately, there is no cure for tinnitus. That doesn’t mean you have let tinnitus take over your life. Luckily, there are several treatment options designed to give you relief. Many people find counselling or support groups helpful, as it reduces stress levels, and lowers instances of tinnitus. Meditation can also bring relief.


If tinnitus has become a daily stress, we have another solution. Many of our hearing aid brands include tinnitus management programs that can be tailored to fit your unique hearing and tinnitus management needs. Tinnitus therapy is designed to bring you relief during the day, and help you sleep at night. Most hearing aids use sound therapy, playing sounds that will mask tinnitus and allow you to focus on something else.

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Hearing Aids with Tinnitus Management Programs

Signia’s hearing aids provide tinnitus relief through a program called Notch Therapy. This therapy, instead of introducing additional sound to drown out ringing, it displaces the tinnitus sounds until they are no longer disruptive.

Widex also offers tinnitus relief with ZEN, a comprehensive tinnitus management program. The Widex ZEN Therapy includes counselling for stress reduction, as well as amplification and ZEN tones, or sounds designed to reduce your perception of tinnitus.

The ReSound Relief app is another option when it comes to treating tinnitus. This smartphone app works together with ReSound hearing aids to give you relaxation exercises and sound therapy. You can choose preset sounds, or pick your own music, and can even adjust the balance between your ears. If you’re having trouble sleeping, you can fall asleep with the ReSound Relief app, and the inbuilt alarm will give you peace of mind, knowing you won’t sleep through your alarm.

Phonak offers tinnitus treatment using the Balance Portfolio. It uses your Phonak hearing aids, a built-in noise generator, and a smartphone app so you’ll have the best in noise masking and tinnitus relief.

Starkey’s iQ hearing aids are equipped with their patent-pending Multiflex Tinnitus Technology, creating customizable sound masking that you can fine-tune to match your exact needs. You’ll have unique tinnitus relief, as well as easy control through your smartphone app.

Rexton hearing aids have Tinnitus Function, a program designed to mask tinnitus using a sound generator that softens tinnitus sounds, helping them fade into the background.

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