Hearing Aids Made Tinnitus Worse

I've had tinnitus for about 6 months now but the last few weeks have been very quiet apart from last thing at night & first thing in the morning.

The tinnitus is in my left ear but the hearing in that ear is very good.

The hearing in my right ear is very poor & today I got my hearing aid.

I wore it for about an hour but when I took it out my tinnitus came on strong.

I am very disheartened as I could definitely hear better with it in. I don't think I want to put it back in now.

 

If you put it back in, does it help your tinnitus?

 

I tried hearing aids today but they didn't help, sadly. I was told it will take time.

 

I can relate. I have tinnitus on both sides but my left side is much worse than the right. That said, my hearing is actually better on that side. I'm thinking of getting a hearing aid for my right side but I'm afraid it might aggravate the tinnitus on that side.

 

Please update us if you do give the hearing aids a go..."Takes how much time"?

 

Let us know if you do give hearing aids a try, thanks.

 

My ENT prescribed me a hearing aid for my left (bad) side which was covered under insurance. I use it mostly for its Bluetooth feature to stream masking sounds to that ear. My guess is that I probably won't get one for my right side for fear of it will aggravate my low tinnitus on that side.

 

How are you doing now?

 

I tried it again last night for a couple of hours & it seemed OK. However today tinnitus is bad in both ears & I'm really struggling

It is now 2 days later, I tried it for a couple of hours last night but had to take it out as it was itching.
Today I am really struggling as it is bad.

Still quite bad but has eased somewhat. Thanks.

 

@Barry O'Connell
I’ve been using hearing aids for about 6 years now. I have one sided hearing loss with severe tinnitus, static & fullness. My first experience with hraring aids was that it did absolutely nothing to help the tinnitus & at times made it worse. I wore them for 5+ years because they were Uber expensive & my insurance at the time didn’t have a hearing aid benefit. They helped with my hearing, but the masker made the tinnitus much worse & the hearing aids were useless for the tinnitus. After about 2 months of trying I turned the masker off & did without it. It was a continued struggle.

Then 6 weeks ago I went to a new highly referred audiologist who recommended a different type of hearing aids; a bi-cross type (Phonak Audeo Marvel) & they are helping quite a lot. My brain has seem to have rebooted with these hearing aids & the tinnitus is behaving. When I’m wearing them, my world is better.

I now know that it’s the combination of the experience, compassion & expertise of the audiologist that makes a difference. She took the time needed to really listen to my issues, desires & needs and came up with a treatment plan, as opposed to just selling me something. Hope this helps.

 

@Quiet please Could you tell me the name of your audiologist, if possible (I'm also in the NYC area)?

 

I got brave and listened to some music today with bone conduction headphones on at a medium-low volume and when I removed them my tinnitus was louder for sure but after about 30 minutes it went back down.

 

@Lenny I’m not in NYC, but a northern suburb in Westchester County, NY.

On the advice of my ENT, I called Hearing Solutions of America’s & got a referral for the specific audiologist who takes my insurance along with a very nice discount for the hearing aids. I saw Brittany Knight of Audiologists Associates of Westchester in White Plains, NY. I suggest going this route because it’s not a money grubbing company. They genuinely just want to hook you up with the best. My last hearing aids, that didn’t do much for me cost me $5700 & with the discount these work 100% better & cost me just $1900 AND I got 12 months to pay them off with 0% interest. They have a 60 day trial period as well. Good luck!

 

And then I forgot to take my turmeric/curcumin and then all the next day I had a horrendous spike. Luckily today I'm right back to essentially nothing.

 

@JohnAdams, I had a Similar experience happen to me with my old hearing aids. I now know it’s a combination of state of the art hearing aides along with a very experienced audiologist who knows how to fine-tune & also takes the time with you that makes the difference. My first consultation & fitting appointment was 2 hours. They need to know in advance when you make the appointment that your case is different. It’s not just for hearing; you need someone who’s very familiar with tinnitus.

 

@Michael B, Your concern sounds valid. I believe this is why the Bi-Cross type hearing aids were recommended for me by my ENT.

 

I too, have tried hearing aids. Diminished hearing in right ear, better hearing in left. Tinnitus in both, but with noise it's not so bad. It can really get loud in the ear with less hearing. I find that I can no longer use the phone to my left ear without discomfort. Usually takes about 5 min and I'm holding the phone away from my ear. Audiologist doesn't understand that I can't wear the hearing aids. ‍♀️‍♀️

 

I had a bad experience with hearing aids in Canada. I too believe that the practitioner was just interested in $$. You have to find an audiologist who is competent and is willing to help. QP's post proves this. My insurance is out of touch with reality and will only provide $300.00 every 5 years for hearing aids. The good thing is most places offer a trial period.

 

Hearing aids = earbuds.