Regular Hearing Aids Are Curing My Tinnitus

[MeBeSurfer]

Just came across this when looking for some posts from those who have hearing aids.. I have mild hearing loss, but still in the normal range. They also found some cochlear damage, from what I have no idea. I'm 52 and otherwise in pretty good shape. My audiologist ordered up hearing aids for me (resound linx 3d) and about 20 minutes after having them in my T went thru the roof. I took them out and the spike lasted for a few days. I don't know how much tuning was actually involved or if they just amplify everything. About the only thing that gives me relief is listening to books or podcasts with ear buds. Between the time my T first started a couple months ago, and the time I got seen by the audiologist my T had died down quite a bit, easily masked and ignorable. I'm regretting not just leaving well enough alone.

That's very interesting. I've never heard of hearing aids making T worse for anyone, at least not yet. Did the hearing aids whistle in your ear really loud as the audiologist was making adjustments? Do you have Hypercaucis? Sorry to hear that hearing aids weren't helpful to you. The good news is almost all spikes are temporary, and should go back to baseline soon. Thanks for sharing your story.

 

[MartinH]

That's very interesting. I've never heard of hearing aids making T worse for anyone, at least not yet. Did the hearing aids whistle in your ear really loud as the audiologist was making adjustments? Do you have Hypercaucis? Sorry to hear that hearing aids weren't helpful to you. The good news is almost all spikes are temporary, and should go back to baseline soon. Thanks for sharing your story.

Who knows if that's what caused it. I scoured the internet pretty well and couldn't find much about it increasing T. I kept the volume way down, no loud noises. My T is really weird. The pitch and volume change all the time, no real pattern except more often than not it's worse when I wake up. The last two days have been relatively quiet with just a couple of outbursts that lasted an hour or two each. Sometimes a weird tone pops in to say hello for 5 seconds and then disappears. This morning it woke me up at 430am, very high pitched so I couldn't mask it. I got up, mopped the hell out of the floor, and it calmed down a little to try to sleep again.

 

[Mathew Gould]

Just an update for everyone. Hearing aids definitely seem to have helped tremendously. When I sleep at night, I don't hear it at all, even when I wake up for a few seconds. My T comes back in the morning when I remember I have T and check for it (yes, I'm trying to get better about that). BUT, the T has vastly improved. It used to be a 6-8/10, now its a 2 or 3. Oddly enough, my hearing aids used to silence my T, but now I can hear my T through the hearing aids, but its very doable and not loud at all. I still feel better off wearing them, since I think it's training my brain not to make up noises, since its filling the neural pathways with proper sounds.

Anyway, I remain confident T is going to go away since I've had such a drastic volume reduction and about 7 months into this. There are times I literally can't hear the T at all, and other times I wanna rip my ears off for still ringing after all this time. I guess we all just hang in there and play the wait and see game right? Staying optimistic here!

Does outside noise such as the TV or furnace raise or mask your T?? What actually does the hearing aid do (emit sound)? Do you wear it in both or 1 ear??

 

[Apolonia]

Just came across this when looking for some posts from those who have hearing aids.. I have mild hearing loss, but still in the normal range. They also found some cochlear damage, from what I have no idea. I'm 52 and otherwise in pretty good shape. My audiologist ordered up hearing aids for me (resound linx 3d) and about 20 minutes after having them in my T went thru the roof. I took them out and the spike lasted for a few days. I don't know how much tuning was actually involved or if they just amplify everything. About the only thing that gives me relief is listening to books or podcasts with ear buds. Between the time my T first started a couple months ago, and the time I got seen by the audiologist my T had died down quite a bit, easily masked and ignorable. I'm regretting not just leaving well enough alone.

I am sorry for asking this but how were they able to find cochlear damage if no one can actually see what is going on in cochlea? Also hearing loss within normal range? Can you elaborate more on this please. Sorry for bothering you. Thanks if you reply. I am currently 24 and my hearing is in both ears 15 dB... Is that a hearing loss within normal range for my ears?

 

[MeBeSurfer]

Does outside noise such as the TV or furnace raise or mask your T?? What actually does the hearing aid do (emit sound)? Do you wear it in both or 1 ear??

Hi there. I wear hearing aids in both ears, and was wearing them as needed before I got T this past year. I was born with hearing loss. Sometimes, I feel like TV is masking my T, and other times, if there are a lot of silent parts, the TV seems to be making my T, although its probably just my T coming through those silent parts.

My hearing aids don't emit a special sound or anything. They just amplify sounds I can't hear in everyday life due to my hearing loss. So, when I breathe for example, it covers the sound of my T. Or walking. Or the birds outside. All stuff I couldn't hear before, suddenly takes a spot in my brain which I think helps mask it.

 

[MeBeSurfer]

I am sorry for asking this but how were they able to find cochlear damage if no one can actually see what is going on in cochlea? Also hearing loss within normal range? Can you elaborate more on this please. Sorry for bothering you. Thanks if you reply. I am currently 24 and my hearing is in both ears 15 dB... Is that a hearing loss within normal range for my ears?

Normal hearing range is 0 to 20 decibels in all frequencies. That's the volume you start to hear at. Mine doesn't start until you crank the volume to 40 decibels in all frequencies. If you cant hear until after 20 decibels, they just ASSUME you have had nerve damage to your inner ear, but nobody really knows. I would say if you hearing in 15 decibels, that is normal range, but I'm not an audiologist, and have no qualifications to advise on this.

 

[MeBeSurfer]

Who knows if that's what caused it. I scoured the internet pretty well and couldn't find much about it increasing T. I kept the volume way down, no loud noises. My T is really weird. The pitch and volume change all the time, no real pattern except more often than not it's worse when I wake up. The last two days have been relatively quiet with just a couple of outbursts that lasted an hour or two each. Sometimes a weird tone pops in to say hello for 5 seconds and then disappears. This morning it woke me up at 430am, very high pitched so I couldn't mask it. I got up, mopped the hell out of the floor, and it calmed down a little to try to sleep again.

Oh man, that happened to me in the beginning too. My T eventually found a baseline and seems to be settling down more. I sleep much better at night now than I did at the 2-3 month mark. Hang in there, I know how annoying that is to be interrupted during sleep from T.

 

[MartinH]

@Matthew: Mine amplify sound based on whatever I set it at on my iPhone, no different really than turning up the volume on your standard ear buds. They have a couple other features for masking T and some other stuff I haven't played with as yet. I can also use them for just listening to whatever from my iphone (sound quality isn't great) or on voice calls (also sucks). I perfer to use my bose earbuds for either of those. A lot of sounds can usually mask mine (not this morning unfortunately) I usually don't have to talk around it if that makes any sense. It's mostly at night when I have my issues, although this morning I'm not doing so hot because of this high pitched crap. I have aids for both ears.

@Apolonia: What they told me was that it was in the normal range but I did have some hearing loss. The cochlear damage was identified by a U.S. Navy audiologist doing a different test. She used something that looked similar to one of those ear thermometers that played a couple tones and from that she said I had some damage.

@MeBeSurfer I think I was under the wrong impression as far as what hearing aids will / would do for me. What you're saying is about what I feel my situation is. Maybe I misunderstood or something, but I was under the impression that the hearing aids would make up for the part of my hearing that I lost and thereby reduce or eliminate the tinnitus. It seems that what's actually happens is more what you're saying, it's amplifying the other sounds to over the T so I don't notice it.

Anyway, I'm going to go back to the audiologist this week for a followup and then probably to satisfy my paranoia I'll go get a 2nd opinion on what I'm doing. I'm just passing my 2 month mark with this so hopefully there's still a chance this will eventually go away.

 

[Mathew Gould]

@Matthew: Mine amplify sound based on whatever I set it at on my iPhone, no different really than turning up the volume on your standard ear buds. They have a couple other features for masking T and some other stuff I haven't played with as yet. I can also use them for just listening to whatever from my iphone (sound quality isn't great) or on voice calls (also sucks). I perfer to use my bose earbuds for either of those. A lot of sounds can usually mask mine (not this morning unfortunately) I usually don't have to talk around it if that makes any sense. It's mostly at night when I have my issues, although this morning I'm not doing so hot because of this high pitched crap. I have aids for both ears.

@Apolonia: What they told me was that it was in the normal range but I did have some hearing loss. The cochlear damage was identified by a U.S. Navy audiologist doing a different test. She used something that looked similar to one of those ear thermometers that played a couple tones and from that she said I had some damage.

@MeBeSurfer I think I was under the wrong impression as far as what hearing aids will / would do for me. What you're saying is about what I feel my situation is. Maybe I misunderstood or something, but I was under the impression that the hearing aids would make up for the part of my hearing that I lost and thereby reduce or eliminate the tinnitus. It seems that what's actually happens is more what you're saying, it's amplifying the other sounds to over the T so I don't notice it.

Anyway, I'm going to go back to the audiologist this week for a followup and then probably to satisfy my paranoia I'll go get a 2nd opinion on what I'm doing. I'm just passing my 2 month mark with this so hopefully there's still a chance this will eventually go away.

@MartinH so without your hearing aid things would the TV, furnace, etc make you're T go up or would the TV mask your T... My T goes up with stuff like the TV. If I'm in a silent room my T is low.

 

[MeBeSurfer]

@MartinH so without your hearing aid things would the TV, furnace, etc make you're T go up or would the TV mask your T... My T goes up with stuff like the TV. If I'm in a silent room my T is low.

TV like any sound will get my T really going. My T is quietest in a quiet room too. When I wear hearing aids though, it's a whole diff ball game. Hearing aids help mask the T, but I hear a static kinda sound through my hearing aids that I can always hear. I can hear it right now while the TV is on. Your question is hard to answer, because days like today, my T feels louder than normal and TV is not masking it. Other days, T seems lower than normal and I can't hear my T over the TV. I realize this makes little sense, but my T fluctuates day to day.

 

[MartinH]

@MartinH so without your hearing aid things would the TV, furnace, etc make you're T go up or would the TV mask your T... My T goes up with stuff like the TV. If I'm in a silent room my T is low.

Noise doesn't seem to have much of an effect on it. I haven't been using the HAs at all. Normally normal household sounds like the TV or just ambient noise outside will mask it well enough, just not today unfortunately. If I'm in a quiet room it's much more noticeable for me.

I'm trying my HAs again today, I have them set on "3" out of "12" for volume.

 

[MartinH]

Oh man, that happened to me in the beginning too. My T eventually found a baseline and seems to be settling down more. I sleep much better at night now than I did at the 2-3 month mark. Hang in there, I know how annoying that is to be interrupted during sleep from T.

Thanks. Its good to hear that.

 

[Mathew Gould]

Noise doesn't seem to have much of an effect on it. I haven't been using the HAs at all. Normally normal household sounds like the TV or just ambient noise outside will mask it well enough, just not today unfortunately. If I'm in a quiet room it's much more noticeable for me.

I'm trying my HAs again today, I have them set on "3" out of "12" for volume.

I'm wondering if they have hearing aids for my situation where outside noise like the TV makes my tinnitus worse??

 

[Mathew Gould]

TV like any sound will get my T really going. My T is quietest in a quiet room too. When I wear hearing aids though, it's a whole diff ball game. Hearing aids help mask the T, but I hear a static kinda sound through my hearing aids that I can always hear. I can hear it right now while the TV is on. Your question is hard to answer, because days like today, my T feels louder than normal and TV is not masking it. Other days, T seems lower than normal and I can't hear my T over the TV. I realize this makes little sense, but my T fluctuates day to day.

Do you think your average day is worse than the normal person with tinnitus or less or about the same??

 

[MartinH]

I'm wondering if they have hearing aids for my situation where outside noise like the TV makes my tinnitus worse??

Don't know but it seems like if they can turn up the volume they should be able to turn it down too. Is your hearing normal?

 

[Mathew Gould]

Don't know but it seems like if they can turn up the volume they should be able to turn it down too. Is your hearing normal?

Yeah as far as I know

 

[MeBeSurfer]

Do you think your average day is worse than the normal person with tinnitus or less or about the same??

I really don't know. How do we know how each other's T sounds like? I'm def bothered by my T each day, but I've heard people describe their T as a jet engine, and to me that would be much louder than what I have. It's really hard to know how we all compare to each other.

 

[lucy_snow]

@MeBeSurfer Does your hearing aids has that tinnitus masking feature? Does that mean that you hear white noise instead of tinnitus?

 

[MeBeSurfer]

@MeBeSurfer Does your hearing aids has that tinnitus masking feature? Does that mean that you hear white noise instead of tinnitus?

Hi, no masking feature. I can still hear the high pitched "eeeeeee" but it is MUCH lower than without my hearing aids. I consider it a success at reducing the tinnitus. I am looking into getting new hearing aids that have built in masking, seems pretty cool to be able to take phone calls over my hearing aids, stream music, and listen to crickets while at the beach.

I may just put in the 5 thousand bucks or what not, meeting with an audiologist on Monday to discuss. I'll update you guys if the new hearing aids are even more helpful.

 

[MeBeSurfer]

Update: Almost 8 months in.

I'm still seeing small improvements in my tinnitus. I also went to an audiologist and turns out I had the complete wrong hearing profile assigned to my hearing aids. I did a hearing test and had the correct profile along with new hearing tips added that completely plug my ears (cool because now my hearing aids block out sounds in loud environments).

Anyway, I hear my tinnitus even LESS now, with my hearing aids in. I don't really hear my tinnitus at all when I'm out and about with my hearing aids in, but in a quiet room I can hear the faint ring. If I take them out, it feels like I'm deaf because everything has been amped to the proper levels all day, and the ringing seems like its quieter, but ya still there sadly. I'm getting to a point where I'm okay with where the tinnitus is at, having hearing aids is a god send to be able to make my tinnitus go unnoticeable while roaming the world.

Anyway, if you have hearing aids, make sure they are properly set by an audiologist! Seriously, I was having high pitched shrills at the ends of certain sounds and thought it was my tinnitus, but it was actually the hearing aids. The shrills are gone, tinnitus still there, but all in all, slowly but surely seems like everything is improving.