Tinnitus Awareness week 2022 February 7th to 13th

Monday the 7th of February 2022 marks the beginning of Tinnitus Awareness Week. For many years Acoustic Technologies has offered tinnitus management solutions through our audiology partners. Notch Therapy from Signia is a world first and offers new hope to those in Ireland who live with tinnitus everyday.

What is Notch Therapy, and How Does It Help with Tinnitus?

Many consider Notch Therapy to be the future of tinnitus treatment, but what is this method, and what does it do?

For those who experience tinnitus, relief is all they want. When you can't find silence especially in quiet moments, it can have an impact on your emotional, and physical health. While static noise and ocean wave therapies have offered relief for some people, others might find these methods distracting, unreliable, or simply ineffective.

Notch Sound Therapy from Signia is a completely new form of tinnitus therapy that works to eliminate the ringing, not mask it.

If you or a loved one struggles with tinnitus, Notch therapy might be the treatment necessary to overcome it. In this blog, we will talk about what tinnitus is, what it does to your health, and how Notch Sound Therapy might be the tinnitus management tool you need.

What is Tinnitus?

Many people know tinnitus as a persistent ring, buzzing or clicking sound in the ears. However, the sound can take many forms, including roaring or hissing. The sound might change in quality, pitch, loudness or remain completely the same. Many people would report that their tinnitus keeps the same tone the entire time and never changes. In Ireland 1 in 10 people have some form of tinnitus. That is over 490,000 people who live day to day with tinnitus that could be treated. Tinnitus could be considered a condition on its own. However tinnitus is usually a symptom of another issue.

Many people who suffer from tinnitus actually have another condition like an undiagnosed sensorineural hearing loss Even a person with a very mild hearing loss might experience tinnitus.  In order to treat tinnitus properly, the base condition must be investigated and diagnosed. Your local independent hearing aid audiologist can assess your level of hearing and discuss a treatment pathway forward.

While not everyone with tinnitus suffers from hearing loss, many of them do. This is why it's important to have a comprehensive hearing assessment when trying to discover the root cause of your tinnitus. If you do have a form of hearing loss, believe it or not addressing that issue can also help with problems that might have previously gone unrecognized.

It's important to catch tinnitus and employ a treatment strategy before it begins to affect your day to day life. Otherwise, the effects of tinnitus can grow into conditions of their own.

The Effects of Untreated Tinnitus

When left untreated, tinnitus can wreak havoc on your health. While a humming sound might seem like a small problem, it can have a massive impact. Depending on the loudness of the tinnitus, it can drown out other sounds and hinder concentration, relaxation, and even prevent quality sleep.

Tinnitus can affect almost every aspect of your life.  You might struggle to work, enjoy music, meditate, or fall asleep. Even if you are able to ignore the sound, you might feel mentally fatigued and physically exhausted by the end of your day.

Spending every day battling tinnitus can drain your enjoyment of life and complicate aspects of your life like work, socializing, and hobbies. This can lead to anxiety and depression in some cases.

If you or a loved one might be suffering from untreated tinnitus, consider seeking help. You can find more information about the benefits of getting diagnosed here.

When tinnitus begins to affect your daily life, it could well be time to consider finding a long term solution. For some, this might involve sound therapy. Many of our Audiology partners can offer advice and in some cases counselling for Tinnitus issues.

An Introduction to Notch Sound Therapy

Signias Notch therapy is a new form of sound therapy geared towards those with tonal tinnitus, the most common form of tinnitus. In 65% of cases, those with tonal tinnitus reported a marked improvement after beginning Notch therapy. Their experiences demonstrate that Notch therapy is a worthwhile avenue of treatment, and it may well be the solution for over 490,000 of the current population suffering from tinnitus.

The concept behind Notch Therapy is not to mask or “drown out”  tinnitus, but to teach the brain how to completely ignore it. The frequency of your tinnitus is targeted, and amplification of the sound is "turned down" and relegated to background noise, making it easier for your brain to ignore. This way, you don't waste energy actively trying to shut out the sound and can focus your energy and concentration on other things.

Unlike ocean wave and static noise, pink noise or white noise sound therapies, this method is done inaudibly, so you might not even realize that you're going through tinnitus sound therapy.

Why Signia Is The World Leader in Tinnitus Treatment

In general people would think that hearing aids are only for those with hearing loss. While this is true for the most part, hearing aids for tinnitus is a concept that Signia aims to build upon into the future. By incorporating tinnitus Notch Therapy into its hearing aids, Signia has greatly expanded the possibilities for a combined treatment solution. For those who already need hearing aids, the inclusion of Notch Therapy bundles two necessities into one device. This simplifies their treatment and allows them more opportunities to use Notch Therapy.

More often than not the simple fact that hearing aids are introducing ambient sound from the environment they are being worn in to the auditory system can help reduce tinnitus awareness.  Couple this with Signia AX hearing aids incorporating notch therapy, they can move around and complete other tasks while still experiencing the benefits of the treatment.

In the past discussions over how to treat tonal tinnitus are usually limited to tinnitus masking devices and other forms of therapy. However, hearing aids equipped with Notch Therapy might be the solution for those who failed to find tinnitus relief with other methods.

The Benefits of Notch Therapy

• Unobtrusive. Notch Therapy works by reducing the annoyance caused by tinnitus. No distracting sounds or static are required.
• Portable. When used in tandem with Signias range of discreet hearing aids, wearers can continue their day without being hindered by their treatment.
• Fast results. Many of those who use Notch Therapy regularly report results in weeks or months.
• Better hearing. When the persistent tone of tinnitus is absent, many people find themselves picking up on sounds they previously missed. This might include the quality of people's voices, certain layers in music tracks, and even the dynamic sounds of nature.
• Possibility for permanence. Because Notch Therapy relegates the sound of tinnitus to the background, long-term use might train the brain to block out the sounds normally. This could lead to their tinnitus being "cured", in a sense.
• Much Improved quality of life. When people are able to sleep better, socialize in comfort, focus, and relax without the background noise of tinnitus, they're less likely to suffer from mental exhaustion and stress. They could well find themselves enjoying their life much more than they did pre- tinnitus therapy.

Signias Notch Therapy is available in the Signa AX range of hearing aids from 2AX Level upwards. Visit our hearing centres page to find one of our independent audiology partners in your area. They will help you select the ideal hearing aid, find the perfect tinnitus therapy as well as giving you advice and guidance that will help you to make life with tinnitus more relaxing.

Further information on Signias Notch Therapy is available HERE on the Signia website.