My wife has tinnitus (noise in the ears not from physical sound) resulting from chemo therapy she went through several years ago. I’m trying to convince her to see an audiologist and perhaps be fitted with a hearing aid. My theory is that the hearing aid would overpower the tinnitus noise and allow her to understand speech easier. Does anyone have personal experience with using a hearing aid to overcome tinnitus and can tell he how helpful it was? There are inexpensive “hearing aids” ($50 - $200) available without having to go to an audiologist. Has anyone used one of these? What has been your experience?
I suffer with tinnitus, not badly, but enough.
The trouble is that there is not one sort of tinnitus. Causes are varied, and the manner in which they can be ameliorated varies. Some sufferers are very sensitive to loud noise. Sometimes the tinnitus makes louder noise distorted. These could be exactly what you don’t want with a simple hearing aid.
But depending upon the precise nature of the tinnitus help may be possible.
Seeing an audiologist is clearly a good start. Maybe a hearing aid could be tuned to avoid specific frequencies that cause difficulty. This is very much the time for a professional.
Tinnitus is usually an effect of hearing loss. So if she has tinnitus, she probably has hearing loss as well. I have some hearing loss and very annoying tinnitus although the hearing loss hasn’t gotten quite bad enough yet to get hearing aid, so I can’t speak from personal experience. But I would wager that hearing aids will help your wife. Tinnitus is perceived as a sound, but it isn’t really a sound, and the idea that sounds have to “louder” than the tinnitus to be heard isn’t quite right. I would strongly recommend a hearing test, to at least find out the status of her hearing.
My wife also lost some hearing due to chemotherapy. She got hearing aids, which did help her (until she died, then they didn’t help anymore).
Good hearing aids dispensed by an audiologist are tailored to amplify specifically in the frequencies where the patient has hearing loss. For example, my hearing is pretty normal up to about 4000 Hz, but at higher frequencies I have moderate loss. A cheap hearing aid that amplifies all frequencies equally would for me overamplify the low frequencies. I’ve never heard good things about the cheap over-the-counter hearing aids.
IANA Doctor, I have tinnitus myself in one ear resulting from a diving accident, I do not hear very well on that ear as a result. It is annoying and inconvenient. But: I would not do anything to my ears (or my eyes, for that matter, which are way worse than my ears) without consulting a professional, I would never automedicate or buy cheap devices (hearing aid, glasses, contact lenses).
YMMV depending on where you live: in Europe we have decent medical coverage.
I have moderate hearing loss, moderate tinnitus, and Meniere’s disease due to age (and falling asleep with my head near the speakers at a Blue Cheer concert). The previous comments are basically correct. My hearing aids help reduce the tinnitus, but don’t eliminate it. My aids have a “tinnitus blocker” function that generates a low level noise, but it doesn’t really help me significantly. IMHO, professionally-fitted hearing aids probably will help her tinnitus to some degree. Eliminate it completely? Doubtful.
I’ve had my aids for about four years now. If you have more questions, I’ll try to help. There are many tinnitus blogs and on-line resources that may also be helpful.
Good luck!
I have tinnitus, and while not needing a hearing aid at this point, I expect to need one in the future due to related hearing loss. So basically I would suggest your wife see an audiologist / odolaryngolgist.
I blame my hearing loss and tinnitus on rock concerts and field artillery. Remember old cartoons with exploding steam-whistle factories? That was my hearing, so bad I sat out the family gathering last XMas because I couldn’t follow any conversations. That’s when MrsRico hauled me to Costco. The Rexton Adore Li aids cost $1k per ear and have revived my life. Tinnitus remains - no cure there - but other sounds are boosted so it’s less noticeable. MrsRico need shout at me much less. I can converse in public. Huzzah!
One thing: A smartphone app allows setting microphone pickup pattern, volume, and tone (frequency response). Even with tone set to least treble, everything sounds clicky and scratchy. But it’s better than being drowned under industrial noise.
I have a mild case of tinnitus, for at least a decade now. When it first manifested itself, I asked my MD about what I should do about it. He said that there wasn’t much medically that could be done, and that if I just ignored it it would become so “normal” that I wouldn’t even notice it.
He was right - now I don’t even notice it unless I’m thinking about it (like right now). So I have to say that the tinnitus, at least for me, is no problem.
I’m the same in that I don’t usually notice mine unless I think about it. However, mine isn’t accompanied by hearing loss. I’ve had ringing in my ears as far back as I can remember. As I preschooler I actually found it interesting.