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Hearing aids worsening tinnitus?

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Has anyone had the counter-intuitive experience of hearing aids worsening tinnitus? I’ve had tinnitus for decades, though in recent years that it’s been relatively calm, BUT in the six weeks since I started hearing aids (Phonak Audeo L90-R) it’s gotten significantly worse: more varied tones and louder (occasionally screaming) though often moderate but nearly always at a level of awareness, whereas previously I could ignore it most of the time.
I’ve working with a very good, and experienced, audiologist. Everyone, including my , says that, if anything, hearing aids should help rather than worsen tinnitus. Of course, there’s always the possibliity of a confounding variable, but I cannot identify anything else that’s changed during these six weeks. I haven’t tried a masking program but don’t like the idea of white noise–I’m highly sensitive to sound.

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Could possibly be because your highly sensitive sound your think about it more. So your noticing it more. I have tinnitus which hearing aids do help when wearing most of the time, I do find my tinnitus is much worse and more high pitched during the day and during the night it settles down.

Edited

Are you taking any new meds, some can cause an increase of Tinnitus.

Does tylenol (acetaminophen) affect your hearing?
This document says it can effect your hearing. It’s not happened to me though. But other drugs can and do effect your hearing… Ciprofloxacin effects my hearing. But other ototoxic drugs can also. 5 Must-Know Medicinal Drugs That May Cause Hearing Loss - The National Campaign for Better Hearing.

When being evaluated for hearing aids, my audiologist told me that can make tinnitus seem worse. She advised that, when possible, it’s best to use open or only partially closed domes if the hearing loss profile permits and tinnitus is a concern.

Tinnitus in most cases stems from damage to one’s hearing anatomy. I have tinnitus and my hearing air programming. I used to be blase about limiting the maximum volume, but now, having tinnitus, I keep that as low as possible. We gotta remember, hearing aids don’t “restore” hearing, they just make everything louder. One other thing, I would highly recommend not falling asleep with your hearing aids in. Studies have shown that mammalian hearing is more vulnerable to damage while asleep. (That’s how I got my tinnitus.) Combine that with amplified sounds coming into your ears, and it’s kind of asking for trouble to fall asleep with them on. Tinnitus, fortunately, tends to reduce over time as the injury resolves itself. I’d take this as a heads-up of something to address.

@user669 said:

Has anyone had the counter-intuitive experience of hearing aids worsening tinnitus?

Honestly - based on 35 yrs of use - I have found that having aids in and hearing ambient sounds as “normal” as I can has significantly diminished the tinnitus I have ringin’ 24x7 in both ears.

Maybe I’m lucky … but it’s only when I take the aids OUT at night that all I hear - and I mean anything less than an M80 tossed at my feet - is the ringing in my ears. It’s at a pitch that may even act as “white noise” … not that I don’t wish it would go away!

Wondering if OP’s aids are at full gain? Also what type of dome or mold and vent size? Posting your would help. I only hear my tinnitus when i take my aids out, that being the reason i asked if your audi has your aids set at full gain along with “experienced” user setting enabled.

Read this topic a bit late. I’m not an expert. My experience is a bit nuanced.

  • Starting point is: tinnitus seems always present to varying degrees. Sometimes it presents as a subtle “shh” sound or “static” or the classic loud “fiuu” sound.
  • Most commonly tinnitus shows up and I’m aware of them – right in the instant I take off my . So, that could be read as sort of “hearing aids worsening tinnitus”. Especially if you consider tinnitus as a result of “brain randomly giving you sound stimulations”, kind of – without HAs my brain thinks I lack stimulation and sent me a whole bunch of tinnitus.
  • I do also experience tinnitus while wearing HAs. Often times there may be some sounds triggering it - like dog barking or some vowels, someone speaking to the phone really near me.
    The HA itself whistling trigger tinnitus to me. This is more evident in those time of “overall intense tinnitus activity”
  • It’s a bit difficult to reckon if it’s the amplification making some extra sounds or tinnitus, and to me tinnitus sounds more “natural” and clear – I may ask my hearing parents if there is a sound in the room. The intensity is random still not impacted by enviromental aspects or stuff.
  • One more aspect is: tinnitus is multi-factoral. I mean many situations and organic stuff and unknown stuff can play a role. In my case, I do have reason to think tinnitus is related to: 1)) hearing loss 2)) vestibular issues I have [dehiscences in inner ear] 3)) blood circulation not doing its maximum etc. It goes with more active periods and other periods “in the background”.

I program my own and I recently boosted the mid-range area where my hearing is more normal (the highs are what I’ve lost) and I noticed a reduction in volume in one especially annoying mid-range tone in my right ear. The high frequency white noise goes away for me when I put in my HAs, but that tone was really bothersome. One thing for sure, I would not wear HAs while sleeping. And I’d avoid as much background noise as possible while sleeping. I moved from a rather noisy environment (at night) to a very quiet one, and my tinnitus got better.

In reply to @trevorman

@trevorman said:

Studies have shown that mammalian hearing is more vulnerable to damage while asleep.

Can you link to the research that suggests this? I’ve never heard this, cannot find it, and off-hand cannot think of a physiological reason why it would be the case.

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