Hearing Aids

Okay here we go, I created an account just to reply to this thread after reading the entire thing. Ive had tinnitus for a while, but its only been bad enough to go to the doctor since may (2 months ago now).

Because this is a hearing aid forum ill skip straight to the hearing aid part of my story. I went to the audiologist and it was determined that i have hearing loss in my left ear due to noise trauma (Im a drummer for almost 15 years). She told me that my hearing loss was minimal and only in one ear, but she recommended i try a hearing aid to see if it would help with tinnitus. I grabbed the widex zen, for my left ear only. Here is my answer to some common questions...

Do the hearing aids work at the specific frequencies of hearing loss?
These ones do. Personally i dont feel affected by hearing loss, i can hear just fine without the hearing aid, and i never really have trouble hearing people talk. The hearing aid at first sounds like it makes everything loud, but after having it in for a short while, most noises just begin to seem normal again.

Does the hearing aid get rid of the tinnitus?
When i first got the T ithought it was only one small range of frequencies 7k-8k. After trying out the hearing aid i can say that i had some lower frequency T as well because when the hearing aid is in, MY T IS ALMOST ENTIRELY GONE WHEN WEARING THE AID (huuuuuuuge relief). however there is still some higher level T that is noticeable when you focus on it.

Does the T seem lower when not wearing the hearing aid?
Not really. However I've only had the hearing aid for a month and a half, so if there is any long term benefit to wearing this hearing aid, i wont notice them for a while.

Should you wear the hearing aid everywhere?
I personally only where it at home where things are generally more quiet and the T is more noticeable. Wearing them at home is basically the greatest thing ever it allows me to focus on my life and geting stuff done instead of thinking about the T. outside of the home, there is usually enough background noise for me to forget about the T, but some of you may need to wear the hearing aid everywhere.

Before i go I just want to say a few things. When this first became a problem 2 months ago, I was devestated mentally. We all know the feeling so i wont go into it. The T seemed to be the only thing i could think about. I cant stress this enough, if you are struggling with T, just give it time. The whole "habituation" thing is not a myth. Your brain will learn to forget about the sound. The most important thing you can do is to stay positive. Its much much easier said than done. Personally I focus on my reaction to it. At first i would hear it and think horrible thoughts and it would realllly get to me. Over time ive learned to hear it and say things like "i hear it but its not bad" or "its up to me to control this, and i choose to be ignore it and be happy". Simple mental talks will do wonders and soon enough you will be back to having a perfectly normal life totally unhindered by the T. Seeing a doctor will help with the stress because they generally give you a feeling that things will get better, but not everyone can afford a doctor or a hearing aid. I know saying "be positive" is probably just whatever to most of you but if you can just keep a good attitude, you will learn to move on in life instead of getting so caught up that life seems to just halt.

anyway i could talk forever about this but this will have to do now. hope this helped

 

Thanks for the info. I'm also a drummer (but ironically, I got my T from otosclerosis and not noise trauma - I have an e-kit so I can set the volume to reasonable levels) and I'm about to be fitted with a HA.
I don't really know which HA to pick from (my provider only offers 3 types, and not the Widex) but I guess you have 45 days to decide if you want to keep it or not.

My T is noticeable indoors or outdoors, and not maskable (unless I pump very high volume into my ears, which isn't really an option). I wonder if the HA alone is going to help with my T, and whether the masking features of the HA can also help.

Good to see you have something that works for you. I assume you keep playing... (with protection, surely?)

 

when I had my hearing test I was told my hearing loss was mild and the tinnitus specialist I talked to said I wasn't really a candidate for hearing aids because of this. I also feel like I may have a mild form of hyperacusis as my ears are very sensitive to noise. Anyway, I went to my dad's and he let me try his hearing aids and I only worse them for a few minutes but it seemed like my tinnitus was much less noticeable and bothersome when I wore them.. So I am debating going back to my audiologist for another hearing test and seeing if I can try hearing aids for while.

Does anyone (especially people with mild hearing loss) use them for their T and if so do they help?

 

I have heavy T attacks late at night and goes on till next morning, so hearing aids are not option for me and no medication helped me so far. Good luck to you w/H aids. V.

 

Warning: I'm not the best writer so please bare with me. I'm here to report on the subject line. I recently joined site and thought I'd never be back with a "good story", but WOW!!!!!

In my mid 40s and from the generation that didn't think much about protecting ears. As of November 2015, I received the gift of tinnitus for free. It was LOUD. EVERYONE I talked to said.."Yeah I have it too. It will go away or I've just learned to deal with it". That scared me into going to my primary care physician who after a batter of tests, referred me to an ENT and ultimately to the audiologist in February 2016. I wasn't going to "just deal with it". They confirmed my hearing loss and referred me to a tinnitus specialist. I sat it out for a while (suffering terribly from LOUD tinnitus) and finally swallowed my pride (hearing aides in my 40s?) and made an appointment with tinnitus specialist in June. Sound therapy sounded SO HOAKY but she verified how beneficial hearing aides would be even without sound therapy. She also sent me home with literature on aides AND therapy.

Fast forward to July 8, 2016. My aides with sound arrived at specialists. I tried them on and almost had a tear arrive in my eyes. I could HEAR THE AIR CONDITIONING BLOWING, THE LEAVES ON THE PLANTS RUSTLING IN HER OFFICE...I was overwhelmed. BUT will they help my tinnitus? She gave me 4 programs. Amplification with white noise, one with amplification and red noise, amplification with NO noise and another I didn't use. I saw ZERO benefits to tinnitus my first week. In fact, during the first week and for the first time I had my tinnitus start quiet in the morning and LOUD by the time I went to bed. Since November 2015, it had ALWAYS been at a 9 or 10 (10 being BAD).

In saying all of that, I've had a complete 180 on my tinnitus. It's maybe a 1 or 3 right now while my white noise is on a very low setting. I wear them almost 12 hours per day. Therapy will last for the next 6 months (off and on) while we tweak my settings. And FYI...I'm NOT masking my tinnitus.

I'm so impressed with this process I'm now reaching out to those that say they'll continue to deal with "it" - tinnitus. I now have a few that are listening!!

 

Everyone you talked to has tinnitus??? Does your social circle only have T folks?

It's good news that the HA help. What brand/model of HA did you end up going for, and where did you buy them from?

 

I would not be without my duel purpose hearing aids as do help take the edge off my sound as it's so sever.
Anyone should be given a chance to try then if not coping to well with their tinnitus and if ENT or audiology think they will help.
@Natalie Roberts ,
Worth a shot ......lots of love glynis

 

Hearing aids are only another scam/business about tinnitus. If you feel bad with them, remove it. There aren't reason to damage furhermore your auditoy pahtways with something that make the external noise more louder that your brain is habituated expecially because you risk to get more bad tinnitus (and it is forever). Avoid hearing aids, expecially if your T is fluctuating aka reactive

 

@Robert...EVERYONE...meaning everyone I talked to WITH tinnitus. You know that though.

 

Hearing aids are the ONLY solution out there that reduces my tinnitus and improves my hearing to the point where I can function normally on a daily basis. There is no scam about it. Of course, it does not mean hearing aids are for everyone. But especially for those with severe hearing loss, it's a lifesaver.

 

@Michael2013 - SPOT ON comment. They are saving my life/sanity as we speak.

 

What do you mean by minimal hearing loss? If its like a 15db drop a hearing aid wouldn't help. I assume you mean a mild or moderate hearing loss? Glad its worked for you though.

 

i'm really really happy for you. The point is another. Too many time, we are been object of selling occasions. hearing aids can be useful in case of severe deafness as you suffer, but like fore the medications/supplements, a lot of people receive false guarantee, promises of remission with an higu price to pay for buy h.a. and after months and months of work, there aren'r results or refund. I know that C.I. and H.A. can be helpful but only for selected people like you and surely because you have a very good doctor!

 

The only guarantee that I know being offered about hearing aids is that you can try them for a period of time (usually 1-3 months) and if you don't like them, you can return them without paying a cent. I've never heard anybody guarantee that they work for everybody. I'm sorry they apparently don't for you, but that does NOT make it a scam. It's far from being a perfect solution, but it's also much better than nothing for millions of people.

-Mike

 

Have you tried TRT with someone trained under Dr. Jastreboff?

I am considering a hearing aid, or perhaps just TRT but I would have to go out of state for it. I'm looking for habituation more than anything else although I do have some mild hearing loss.

 

TRT, Jastreboff etc, are overrated. The 85% of "success" is one of the most pumped statistics in the world of stupidity

 

@glynis . Hi Glynis . I totally agree with you on the use of hearing aids. Being slightly deaf in one ear I find that they benefit me greatly by helping me to mask my tinnitus also I can now enjoy conversations with other people.

 

Do the hearing aids still allow one to habituate?

And do you at all find an issue when you take them out at night to sleep?

 

@dh42 Hearing aids certainly makes it a lot easier to habituate to tinnitus if your tinnitus is mild. Mine is loud but I still find hearing aids helpful. As for taking it out at night I don't I leave it in as I have a clock beside me and it has a loud tick if I crank up the volume on the hearing aid that sound of the ticking clock helps shut out the tinnitus sound so I can get of to sleep.

 

Thanks, Richard. Some hearing aids also produce some white noise as an option too, correct? So can it be a bit like "TRT-lite"?

My T is up and down throughout the week from loud (9 out of 10 annoyance) to low (2 out of 10). Lately, it's been more on the loud (ugh).

 

Mine also fluctuates as well like you said yours does and I only have mild hearing loss but it bothers me quite a bit on some days. I'm going to get a new hearing test to see if hearing aids may benefit me simply to help reduce the T..

 

Mild hearing loss can be quite bothersome indeed.
The first time I went to the ENT I had mild hearing loss and she told me most people don't even notice it, which surprised me a lot because it felt very lopsided to me (most likely because my other ear still hears very well). In fact, the lopsided feeling is the very symptom that took me to the ENT in the first place (I didn't have T back then... ah the good old days of "only (mild) hearing loss").

 

I got hearing aides. I do the same as the original poster and wear them at home when the T is more noticeable. My T is kind of high pitch so sometimes I can STILL hear it with the hearing aides and it makes me anxious because it makes me think it got louder. That part I need to get used to. You can also get the hearing aides with masking sounds. If it made your T better I would HIGHLY recommend them. I bring them everywhere just in case as well.

 

I didn't even know I had hearing loss until my tinnitus started and I had a hearing test. But now with my tinnitus I notice I have a hard time hearing and I'm not sure if it's because I generally can't very well or if it's because the tinnitus is that loud that makes it difficult to focus on other things.. I want to have another hearing test .

 

I am definitely going to look into them.. I have hyperacusis as well so I don't know how it will work out.

 

I use apps on my iPhone to test my hearing regularly. I find they are surprisingly accurate (they are very close to what I get with a "professional" hearing test). I use https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mimi-hearing-test/id932496645?mt=8 and https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/uhear/id309811822?mt=8

 

Thanks I'll check it out'

 

I went to Costco by the recommendation of my Dr. to see an audiologist. He gave me a hearing test and said there was a hearing loss, though not great, in one ear and enough to cause the tinnitus. (I only have it in my left ear.)
He programmed a hearing aide and let me wear it for an hour, walking around the store. I heard sounds that my husband didn't hear and his hearing is fine. Sadly, it didn't do anything for the ringing in my ear. He tried changing the frequency and I walked around for another 15 minutes. It didn't mask the high pitched sound in a any way, but I did hear better. I would spend $5,000 at this point to get rid of this constant ringing.
Is there any other type of hearing aide that anyone has had any luck with? This one was $1,400 for one ear.

 

I got a hearing aid on the recommendation of the audiologist who diagnosed me with T saying that the hearing aid would replace the range of hearing lost as the hearing aid is programmed according the the audiogram result , this all made sense and seemed like it would help but unfortunately while it improved my hearing it did not help with my T.

It cost me a lot of money but I was in the beginning stages of getting T so I was willing to try anything , this was 6 years ago .

Maybe it will work for you as treatment success really seems to vary from person to person , if you can muster up the cash I would go for it .

 

What does it sound like wearing a hearing aid? I mean does it sound as natural as when you're not wearing one?

Also, is anyone wearing the really small hearing aids you can barely even see?

I took an iphone hearing test (which I'm told is darn accurate) and I'm at a 66-74 yr old hearing....but I'm only 44. I had a professional hearing test a couple of years ago when my T started and I was considered moderate loss to moderate severe. With that said, I seem to hear fine although have difficulty with some dialogue at times or once in a while hearing people, but it's not that bad. Just don't know what I want to deal with the cost and it all a this point. Good ones are expensive and need to be replaced around every 5 yrs I'm told. Can anyone relate? I have no doubt down the road I will need a hearing aid though but rather hold off for now.