Why Hearing Aids Aren't Given Much Attention for Tinnitus Management?

Has anybody considered hearing aids path to get some relief ? We know that hearing aids can help only if we have have hearing loss in human hearing range upto maybe 6-7khz but I read that we now have high frequency loss hearing aids available in the market too? Why isn't there much buzz about high frequency loss hearing aids for tinnitus relief ? I have never seen much attention given to hearing aids route for tinnitus specially now when we have high frequency loss hearing aids available in the market. It should have been a hot topic like Autifony and retigabine for tinnitus management. Can it not be expected to amplify the higher frequencies and diminish tinnitus which would be cool and a life saver? Am I missing something here ? Where is the problem? Please share your thoughts and clear my confusion. Thanks for reading

 

Hear hear (pun intended), I have been thinking about the same thing.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong someone but to the best of my knowledge, hearing thresholds in the very high frequency range (8-20 khz) are almost never tested and such tests are not routinely available in a lot of places.

I am not aware of any marketed amplification technology that goes beyond 8 khz.

Hearing aids are already used in the management of tinnitus on people with mixed success. It seems the built-in noise features are the most useful.

 

https://usa.bestsoundtechnology.com/pro/siemens-hearing-product-portfolio/micon/

• 12 kHz frequency range

 

I don't think that there are enough daily sounds in that range to actively mask tinnitus. Are there?

 

Can u paste where it says 12khz range?

 

There's no point. The reason why hearing aids help mask some people's tinnitus is due to the fact they are hearing less and thus they can hear their tinnitus more thus amplifying their hearing allows them to hear the background noise more and masks it. If you can already hear those background noises you don't need an hearing aid.

 

^ that's not how it works. Hearing aids can reduce / cure T for many with hearing loss but their T range is typically below 8Khz. The effect is similar to notched music therapy. That Siemens device is very interesting, thanks for sharing the link. It offers also some sort of a T therapy.

 

I ofcourse meant to help manage T to perceive it less, not cure it. We have hearing aids in the market which can amplify even higher frequencies and should help with high pitch tinnitus too ( not sure about the limit ) . I wonder why we havent seen much about it yet on this board or anywhere

 

You are right. There are aids that have maskers inbuilt that are specially designed for tinnitus.

 

I already posted why, there are not enough daily sounds in that range to provide relief.

 

Makes sense. But the point is to "fix" our ears in higher frequencies and not necessarily make them "hear" those frequencies. Tinnitus by definition is "ears unable to send high frequency information to the brain" , resulting in brain making noises if I am not mistaken. If we usually don't have high frequency sounds in our environment, then why do normal ears don't have tinnitus ? Or maybe tinnitus is produced as a result of hearing loss in any frequency in our ears and its not related to and independent of what frequencies we have around us in our environment. I hope I am not confusing you

 

Exactly what @Telis said. If you have T at 15 kHz, there is no input from outside to mix with T. Maybe only crickets. T and hearing loss are only related, because T is usually where you have hearing loss. But that does not mean, everyone with hearing loss gets T. Otherwise sooner or later everyone would get T - which is not the case.

T is a brain thing. Nerves in the brain start firing. Therefore, meds like Retigabin, Gabapentin, benzos can lower T. Because they calm down the brain.

 

Have been using a Beltone "Tinnitus Breaker", with 4 programmable channels and masking. I have used this device for 8 months and can say, it helps with my hearing loss, which is high frequency. If I wear it outside let say and there are high pitched crickets singing, without the hearing aid, my damaged right ear, can't hear them at all. With it in and the volume jacked up, I hear them fairly clear. Remember, hearing aids amplify sound, so all sounds will become louder, not neccesarily clearer.

This unit has 4 different and switchable channels. First is For general use, with white noise masking and omni-directional mikes. Second, is for bars and parties, etc. It has no masking, uses directional mikes. Third, is for general use and uses pink noise, with both omni and directional mikes. Fourth is, no masking and omni mikes, but increases the high frequency range, which is good for music or watching TV. The audiologist sets all these channels up and programs the masking levels at your particular T range. My T is chronic and severe, so we are pretty much maxed out on the masking DB levels. Mine is set at 65 DB's, which is high. Some days I can hear the masker over my T, but most days, my T is much louder than the masker. If you're an I-phone user, there's an app you can download, to change any of the settings on the fly. The Beltone unit is a wireless device.
Price is around $3,800 USD.

Also note, there are many other brands you can chose from and most dealers, will let you demo a unit for 30 days.

Sailboardman

 

Awesome! This gives some hope to me