ENT appointment, hearing aids.

[woodman72]

Just had my ENT appointment. Seems the MRI scan was ok. The hearing tests show a loss of hearing bilateral and asymmetric, with an average auditive level of 32db right and 41db left. My T is worse on the left. He didn't explain these results, but recommended hearing aids both sides. He said hearing aids often reduce the perception of T. I'm wondering how many on here have found this to be the case ?

When I looked the results up, 0 to 20db is considered normal, and 20 to 40db a slight loss of hearing. I have heard that aids with sound generation can help with habituation, have many of you found this to be true. Thanks.

[Happyrosie]

I don't personally have hearing aids with sound generation. My hearing is asymmetric like yours.

I have certainly found wearing the aids helps with tinnitus, as the real world is more obvious and therefore the T fades into the background a bit.

More on this on the website of Tinnitus UK, the specialist charity.

[tomlwatson]

Same as you I was advised that hearing aids would reduce the perception of T. I was skeptical but I got them anyway and they did help significantly. Habituation is key. FYI my HAs do not generate sound.

[woodman72 in reply to tomlwatson]

Could you tell me, how bad was your hearing loss ? Also what type of HAs did you get, and did they help you to habituate so that your T is lower also when you are not wearing them. Thanks.

[tomlwatson in reply to woodman72]

I don't have numbers to measure my hearing loss. But the audiologists seem to consider it common. I can hear and understand conversations in quiet environments but it's more difficult in groups of talking people. I use the basic HAs from the NHS (UK) and my T is lower when I wear them. They helped me significantly but they did not eliminate T.

[woodman72 in reply to tomlwatson]

Thanks for that Tom. I just read the thread following your original post 5 years ago which was very interesting. I live in France, so I hope the health service here can match your NHS treatment.

[waterfalls123456]

Yes hearing therapy ie white noise like rain or ocean waves helps

[Darren6]

Hi, I used hearing aids to habituate to my Tinnitus.

I have complete hearing loss in my right ear from 5500hz and above which caused tinnitus and hyperacusis. My habituation took around 18 months and i used sound therapy from hearing aids. They both helped lower the perception and trained my brain to lessen the focus on the tinnitus.

[woodman72 in reply to Darren6]

Hi Darren, when you say both, do you mean amplification and sound as well ? Do you still need the hearing aids now for you T, or just for your hearing loss ?

[Darren6 in reply to woodman72]

Im lucky in a sense that almost all of speech is below the 5500hz level so I have no problem with conversation and my left ear has no hearing loss so i lead a normal hearing life. I did have one problem locating a locust (pet food) that had escaped from my lizards cage. It always sounded to my left!

I am at a point now that i have no need for the hearing aid. The tinnitus seems to have backed off substantially that i only notice it at bedtime whereas before it was so loud all the time. I really believe that the sound therapy provided by the hearing aids were the main help in habituation.

[Lefty51]

Hi Woodman72 - This is interesting, as I have an ENT appointment for my T next week. I had a hearing assessment a few months ago, with similar results. Following your post, I know what to expect from the ENT visit, but not sure if I'm ready for hearing aids yet so will see how it goes.

[woodman72 in reply to Lefty51]

Hi Lefty, your ENT doc will hopefully be more communicative than mine! I don't really feel like wearing HAs yet ,so thats why I'm asking questions on here. If the HAs will help me to habituate then I will give them a try...if I can afford them. Darren6 seems to have been helped by sound generating HAs, so thats encouraging.

[woodman72 in reply to woodman72]

Please post the results of your appointment, everyone's experiences are interesting. Thanks.

[Hidden in reply to woodman72]

If you're in England, hearing aids are free on the NHS. Get a GP referral to your local hospital's audiology department. And I don't know why you are reluctant to wear hearing aids - would you be prepared to struggle without glasses if you needed them to read or see TV?

[woodman72 in reply to Hidden]

Hi, I live in France so I'm not yet sure what hearing aids are going to cost. I'm not reluctant to wear them, it's just that my hearing loss is moderate ,and I don't want to invest in them unless they may help with my T as well.

[Tanney]

I have significant low decibel range hearing loss in both ears from bilateral Meniere's Disease. Tinnitus fluctuates from mild to severe pulsatile. I received free Hearing Aids from the Veterans Administration here in USA four years ago. Hearing Aids have "eliminated" about 70% of my tinnitus when I'm wearing them. I strongly recommend you get them and use them all day, every day. It will only take a few days for your to be comfortable wearing them. Good Luck!

[Gardenhack]

have hearing aids in each ear. Have had them for about 15 years. Developed Tinnitus in Ieft ear over a year ago. Have had MRI scan, nothing untoward showed up. Scan was easy. Tinnitus most annoying at night when I have taken my hearing aids out. I use gentle piano music played over an echo dot overnight and find it is at the right pitch to at least distract from Tinnitus. Am gradually getting used to Tinnitus, although just as loud I have come to accept that it is just there, not painful, just annoying. Stress certainly makes it worse so go gently with yourself and good luck.

[PABLR]

I find they make some difference, not a lot. For me how aware I am of tinnitus has much more to do with how engrossed I am with what I'm doing, regardless of the ambient noise level. So I can be reading in a quiet atmosphere and not notice the tinnitus at all while I read. If I'm writing on this forum it is always very loud!!

[woodman72 in reply to PABLR]

Yes, isn't it interesting how distraction works as well as exterior sounds to block out the T. If I wake up in the night, I try to distract myself with a train of interesting thoughts! This often works, so can repeating a mantra.

[woodman72]

Thanks for the replies, talking about this has made me feel more optimistic already. I will try hearing aids, with and without sounds, and hopefully they will help. Honestly, any improvement would be worth it.

[Tal-r789T]

I've had hearing aids now since about October, as I have a significant loss in both ears around the speech perception frequencies. When I wear the hearing aids and have noise around me, then the perception of T is less, but my problem is at night when I take them out. Ive been suffering badly with T now for 18months and sleep is my worst problem. I don't know what caused this to come on (like everyone here I think). My main issue is that my T spiked again about mid Jan, and I'm not sure why, and I'm currently battling this. I have a set of NHS hearing aids, and I have some CIC I'm trying from Specsavers. The problem with the CIC is that I can't control the volume in each ear separately which I need to, and can with the NHS ones. I've tried others but they had issues (larger CIC ones but they kept falling out).

[Bridiecat]

yes! I have profound loss of high frequency sounds, due to age related hearing loss. I’ve had my mortgage aids for four months nearly, and I’m just starting to notice that the shhhhsssssss is less noticeable now, so much so that I don’t notice it unless I focus, it has certainly helped with my habituation HOWEVER if I forget to put them in, especially if I am not working or home alone, then by the end of the day the racket is dreadful…. It’s just something that either helps or not, I was told not to expect anything until between 7-9 months so I am reassured that I’ve notice a mild change early on. It will never go but it’s progress towards habituation.