Hearing aid for dizziness.

[penelope2]

After lots of research and having had tinnitus (bearable) low to medium loss of hearing bilaterally and the real problem, dizziness, constant but sometimes worse.I have gluten ataxia too so added to the dizziness this makes functioning on a daily basis difficult. This has been the way for many years with no help from the ENT department, little help from neurologists.

So I am now trialling a hearing aid (just grasping at straws really) which might be helping the feelings of vertigo and dizziness. 🖕

Just wondering if anyone else has similar problems and what is your experience.

Thank you.

[TinnitusUKPat Partner]

Hi Penelope

If you consider the hearing aids primarily as a way to manage the low-to-medium hearing loss that you mention in your post, you may find that they also take your attention away from the tinnitus which often accompanies this issue.

ENTs and Neurologists can help in their own fields of reference - it's possible that the issues you have are more likely to be helped by audiology or audio-vestibular therapy for problems with dizziness. I hope that your hearing aids prove to be helpful.

[penelope2 in reply to TinnitusUKPat]

Thanks for replying.Yes I only have one hearing aid. I'm guessing but the messages that my cerebellum is receiving is different from one ear to the other which is why I am trialling the hearing aid.

The cerebellum is the balance centre of the brain and is affected in ataxia. There are many different types, over 200 I believe.

The audiologist was surprised that I have not been told before by the NHS that this may help so I've had to go privately.

So far there are positive signs that it may help with the dizziness and balance.

I feel very let down by consultants that I have seen so far. To try and diagnosis yourself takes a lot of motivation, researching and money!

It is that or put up with such a poor quality of life.

[woodman72]

Hi penelope,

I live in France and my local ENT doctor uses one of these machines to help people with vertigo, apparently with a lot of success. I will be seeing him next month about my T. I'm sure you could find someone doing this where you live.

lepopulaire.fr/saint-junien...

[penelope2 in reply to woodman72]

Gosh that looks a bit like training for space! Never seen anything like that. I was sent to an audio clinic by the ENT department but there was nothing like that there. Lots of tests that involved being wired up for eyes and muscle movement, but typically the one test that would have been positive was out of action that day. Nothing abnormal!That's been the story of the last 10 years for me, nothing abnormal!

My thinking is that my balance centre, the cerebellum, receives mixed messages from the ears, and hopefully the one hearing aid will go some way to putting this right. Only time will tell. Ataxia has no cure, there is always ongoing research, usually in the genetic types though and so I'm just trying to help myself in any way possible.

Please is there some way to change the language in the link to English?

Thank you.

[woodman72 in reply to penelope2]

Here's some info in english on the TRV chair. Hope this helps.

interacoustics.com/balance-...