Is it possible to use hearing aids for tinnitus?

  Tinnitus and deafness are closely related and often go hand in hand. Therefore, it is impossible to talk about deafness without considering the problem of tinnitus. Tinnitus is a sound perception that is not caused by external stimuli. It is divided into 0-6 levels according to the subjective perceived size (loudness); low, medium and high tones according to the subjective perceived tone type; and long and short duration; milder tinnitus has little impact on life, but more severe cases are often distracting. Most people’s deafness is affected by environmental sounds. When there is a lot of surrounding noise, the subjective sensation? tinnitus diminishes or disappears, and tinnitus worsens when it is quiet. A typical example is that many people have difficulty sleeping when disturbed by tinnitus, but are not disturbed by it during the day. This is because the “sound” of tinnitus is suppressed when the ambient sound is loud (masking effect).  There are many causes of tinnitus, and it is difficult to determine the cause. Even if a correct diagnosis can be made, the methods and effects of treatment are limited. In this sense, tinnitus is a difficult disease to treat. The oldest and most effective method is the so-called “masking therapy” – the use of external sounds to suppress tinnitus. This therapy is said to be 60-80% effective in patients with significant tinnitus. Based on this principle, tinnitus therapy devices have been invented to reduce the negative effects of tinnitus by using targeted sounds from electronic devices that the patient does not find annoying.  Hearing aids have been suggested as an alternative to “therapeutic devices” to mask tinnitus by amplifying the signal sound with good results. This has proven to be a proven method, especially for those with severe tinnitus. Therefore, it can be said that people with tinnitus can not only use hearing aids, but also kill three birds with one stone: improving their hearing status; masking tinnitus; and having a certain effect on the treatment of tinnitus.