Tinnitus is a moderately common condition, with 20% of the population having some form of it (and almost all of those suffering from hearing loss at the same time) at any given time. And while there's no cure to this chronic and annoying condition, there are different treatments, both prescription and natural, that can help alleviate symptoms. But what if there was a way technology could help you out as well? If you're looking for information on how hearing aids can help you to stop hearing that ringing sound and learn to listen again, then here's what you need to know.
Hearing Loss and Tinnitus
Hearing loss and tinnitus are rather inextricably linked due to your brain's ability to mold itself to fit your current situation, for good or ill. If you begin with hearing loss and develop tinnitus, it's usually because your hearing loss makes your brain receive less auditory stimulation, making it shift to adapt to this new state by undergoing neuroplastic changes. These maladaptive changes can often then result in tinnitus. If your tinnitus comes first (say, as a result of a head injury), the noise in your ears can drown out softer ambient sounds, resulting in an effective hearing loss.
Where Hearing Aids Come In
Hearing aids no longer just turn up the volume in a room for you; advances in technology have enabled medical technicians to create hearing aids that can turn down ambient noise and turn up conversation, make up for a loss of high or low tones, and many other handy features – including those specially designed for tinnitus relief. In the first place, tinnitus is aggravated by silence, so improving your ability to hear will automatically dim a bit of the din in your ears.
Tinnitus-focused hearing aids also help by emitting soft sounds (usually referred to as Zen fractal tones) in the registers you don't hear anymore so that your brain doesn't try to supply those tones via tinnitus. These sounds are soft enough that you'll hardly notice them unless you're in an incredibly quiet room, and sound basically like a tinkling wind chime rather than the oppressive roaring of unchecked tinnitus.
A Caveat
Of course, because there's no actual cure for tinnitus, hearing aids aren't a perfect fix, nor are they guaranteed to work for everyone. Some may find the ambient sounds produced by tinnitus-focused hearing aids more annoying than the actual tinnitus, and others might find that hearing better does nothing but amplify their symptoms. However, using hearing devices is generally regarded as highly effective, and can be an answer to your prayers if you consistently suffer from tinnitus and hearing loss.
Share30 November 2016
Having a daughter comes with a number of challenges. One challenge that you will one day need to tackle is determining when to introduce your daughter to the gynecologist. Do you take your daughter to the same gynecologist that you see or take her somewhere else? Do you wait until she gets her first period or do you take her in to learn about the menstrual cycle from the doctor? There is a long list of questions you likely have about introducing your daughter to the world of gynecology. Having gone through this twice myself, I have learned quite a bit and have included a lot of helpful information in my site to help other parents get through this complicated time a little easier.
