I’m Curious, How Do Hearing Aids That Are Designed to Mask Tinnitus Work?

[neo-t]

So ever since I heard of hearing aids that produce white noise, I always wondered how they worked.

Do they have silent white noise? Is there some sort of thing similar to a volume changer to lower or heighten the white noise?

Educate me, I'm really interested haha.

 

[GregCA]

So ever since I heard of hearing aids that produce white noise, I always wondered how they worked.

Do they have silent white noise?

No, there is no such thing as silent white noise. White noise is noise. Noise is not silent.

Is there some sort of thing similar to a volume changer to lower or heighten the white noise?

Some hearing aids to support variable volumes for masking noises, yes.

I have a HA with a masking sound and used that in the beginning, but then I found it annoying, so I just use the standard amplification now.

 

[John Mahan]

I just tried hearing aids mostly to see if it would help my tinnitus. These were Oticon high end hearing aids with tinnitus program.

Like Greg, I basically couldn't stand any of the white noise or ocean breeze type of masking. I too found it annoying.

I was hopeful that 'filling in the highs' of my hearing deficit would help but it didn't. Hearing aids didn't help my tinnitus and really didn't help my hearing very much either. Up to about 6K my hearing is pretty normal where I have fall off of the highs. Turning up these highs honestly on some level aggravated my hyperacusis.

In the end both the audiologist and I agreed that hearing aids weren't the best solution for me. Maybe in a few years when I have further hearing loss.