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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Tinnitus / August 2004TINNITUS SURVEY ABOUT HEARING AIDS
Just curious how many of you are wearing hearing aids and who also have tinnitus. Would love to know how many of you find that the hearing aids affect your tinnitus in any way? I.E.----does your tinnitus become softer or louder? does the tinnitus change in pitch or sound quality? does the tinnitus change AFTER you take the hearing aids out? please tell me what kind of hearing aids you are using: in the ear, behind the ear, open canal, cic, etc etc. Marsha Johnson, M.S. Director Oregon Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Treatment Clinic www.tinnitustreatment.org > Just curious how many of you are wearing hearing aids and who also have > tinnitus. Would love to know how many of you find that the hearing aids affect > your tinnitus in any way? I have hearing loss at high frequency in both ears, and two digital ITE aids. > I.E.----does your tinnitus become softer or louder? Louder :( > does the tinnitus change in pitch or sound quality? No, just louder :( > does the tinnitus change AFTER you take the hearing aids out? Quieter :) > please tell me what kind of hearing aids you are using: in the ear, behind the > ear, open canal, cic, etc etc. ITE digital, and my T wasn't *that* bad (bearable) until I got the aids, which I no longer wear. Ben > Just curious how many of you are wearing hearing aids and who also have > tinnitus. Would love to know how many of you find that the hearing aids affect > your tinnitus in any way? Here's my tuppen'orth , quoted from my site at www.detinnitiser.com ..... ======================================== Another cheap and simple electronic method which I have found very effective for suppressing my tinnitus is to wear a miniature sound amplifier with earphones. This is in effect, a hearing aid. It boosts the volume of the sound in the outside world while of course the tinnitus remains at its original level. As a result the tinnitus soon gets lost under the more 'interesting' (boosted) sound. Not a lot of amplification is needed here to do the job and the brain soon adjusts to the slightly louder sound so it sounds much as it did before wearing the device. But the tinnitus can't match it and gets lost ! A further refinement is to modify the amplifier so it only amplifies high pitched sounds in the region of the tinnitus frequency. This effectively replaces the tinnitus with information-bearing content, which is selected out by the brain. The tinnitus doesn't stand a chance. It works a treat ! The hearing system seems to incorporate its own 'automatic gain control' which reduces the perceived volume of the tinnitus when the level of ambient sound is higher. So, increase the ambient sound level, particularly around the tinnitus frequency, and you can greatly reduce the tinnitus - without the ambient sound sounding much louder. I used a "Mega-ear" unit available from Maplin in the UK costing only a few pounds. This measures about 3 x 1? inches, contains its own microphone and battery and can be worn on a lapel or top pocket. ======================================== Rgds, Steve O >> Just curious how many of you are wearing hearing aids and who also have >> tinnitus. Would love to know how many of you find that the hearing aids [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] >Rgds, >Steve O This was quite interesting information. I have suffered from this condition probably from my teenage years (57 now), and usually just tune it out, it don't really bother me too much, even though it is getting stronger with age. It's always there, like a waterfall at the campground, you only notice it when you think about it, except that listning to music is not as enjoyable as it used to be, and if I find my self in a noisy environment it makes it hard to understand what people are saying. Also, in a high noise environment it gets progressively worse, the volume of the screaming in my ears goes up, masking sounds I want to hear. Unforunately I spend a lot of time in the cockpit of noisy airplanes with earphones over my ears for radio communication. The longer time I spend in the aircraft, the louder I need to turn the volume up to be able to hear radio communications, and the louder the screaming in my ears become. But there seems to be a correlation between sound frequency and the legibility of speach, a "high-fi" quality earphone requires louder voulme than a low quality one that cuts out higher frequencies (I'm guessing over 3-4KHz) and the very low frequencies. Guess I'll be looking for that amplifier with an equalizer to do a little experimenting. Regards Osscar >Also, in a high noise environment it gets > progressively worse, the volume of the screaming in my ears goes up, [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > need to turn the volume up to be able to hear radio communications, > and the louder the screaming in my ears become. Yep, for my tinnitus there seem to be two types of noise - 'bad' and 'good'. The bad type is a dull roar or a drone. Perhaps the ear/brain system reacts to this by bringing up the processor 'gain', fruitlessly searching for some information-content in the noise. Thus the system noise (tinnitus) is elevated too. The 'good' type of noise is the opposite of the above really, ie. spiky static-type noise with lots of detail. Though it's best heard quietly. The _type_ of noise is what is important, not its loudness : "content is king". Perhaps it gives the hair cells or neurons a good 'ol workout or something... Anyway the tinnitus gets suppressed. Cheers, Steve O >Just curious how many of you are wearing hearing aids and who also have >tinnitus. Would love to know how many of you find that the hearing aids affect [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >please tell me what kind of hearing aids you are using: in the ear, behind the >ear, open canal, cic, etc etc. Marsha: I have 50 dB average loss in 'good ear' and no useful hearing but ver-r-y loud T in the other. My T treatment has been 24 hour use of BiCROS HA's (Widex Diva and Senso). Being able to hear natural sounds helps much more than all other treatments (many) that I've tried. My units are all digital BTE type. It definitely affects the T awareness and I try to never have an HA out for any period of time. The use of Floxin anti-biotic drops has prevented any ear infections for the past several years. Bob D. Bob D. Long Island, NY bdimarco@optonline.net > Just curious how many of you are wearing hearing aids and who also have > tinnitus. Would love to know how many of you find that the hearing aids affect [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > Oregon Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Treatment Clinic > www.tinnitustreatment.org I had BAHA surgery (bone anchored hearing aid) done 6 wks ago and am awaiting for another 6 wks to be fitted with the actual sound processor. I'm anxious to see if there will be any improvement in regards to the tinnitus, my ENT doc believes that will be the case. frank > I had BAHA surgery (bone anchored hearing aid) done 6 wks ago and am >awaiting for another 6 wks to be fitted with the actual sound processor. >I'm anxious to see if there will be any improvement in regards to the >tinnitus, my ENT doc believes that will be the case. Hope this works well for you. Please keep us posted (no pun intended). Susan There are BAHA demo units available that give a fairly good idea of what the unit sounds like and also how it would affect your tinnitus. Did they demo and if so, was the tinnitus changed? HNG > > Just curious how many of you are wearing hearing aids and who also have > > tinnitus. Would love to know how many of you find that the hearing aids affect [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > frank I had just a brief demo with the head band before I had the surgery- the batteries were cutting out so I didn't get a real good sense how much my hearing and the tinnitus would be improved. The SSD (single-sided deafness- for those who may not be familar with the term) and my tinnitus has impacted my life so drastically, both professionally and socially, that I was willing to try this without any lengthy trial/demo period. I just have to hope for the best. frank > There are BAHA demo units available that give a fairly good idea of what the > unit sounds like and also how it would affect your tinnitus. Did they demo > and if so, was the tinnitus changed? > > HNG I saw a lecture last spring on the BAHA and it was interesting. The person who had it did not have T before or after. I will look forward to hearing more about the results for you. Thanks for the replies to date. Marsha Johnson, M.S.
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