Hearing Loss causes Dementia?
Annoyance or terminal?
On my first visit to a specialist about my Tinnitus I was told by my ENT that if I did not get hearing aids my chance of Dementia increases -** and oh-by-the-way, we can’t do anything for Tinnitus!!!! And oh – by the way we can fix you up with hearing aids for $6,500.
😱 This is a scream emoji. With hearing loss and Tinnitus am I destined for Dementia? I want to understand.
I have seen statements that as many as 50 million Americans have some sort of Tinnitus. Are we all getting Dementia?
About 1 in 9- age 65 and older (10.7%) has Alzheimer’s. 14.3% in people 60–69 years of age have tinnitus. These numbers make my mind **boggle**. Does this mean anything other than Older people have Tinnitus, and Older people have Alzheimer’s?.
“Current evidence on efficacy of hearing aids on tinnitus perception and annoyance is considered insufficient due to the heterogeneity (fancy name for too many factors) of tinnitus characteristics and of methods used in the relevant clinical studies. Hearing loss and tinnitus are highly correlated, since it is estimated that up to 90% of patients experiencing tinnitus suffer from various degrees of hearing loss as well . However, degree of hearing loss is not established as a prognostic factor for tinnitus existence and annoyance.”
Or otherwise They don’t know cause and effect, if there is one, between Tinnitus, Dementia or Hearing loss.
When the hairs inside your inner ear are bent or broken — this happens as you age or when you are regularly exposed to loud sounds — they can “leak” random electrical impulses to your brain, Tinnitus is more of a **sensation** than a sound. Broken hairs do not heal or regenerate.
My sensations run **along side** my hearing. – to me it seems that the tinnitus sound does not overcome my hearing, but runs along side making it seem like both are present. I don’t hear tinnitus ringing while listening to the the hearing part when it is available. If the sounds in the environment, albeit from music, tv, people speaking, car noise, wind etc are present, I don’t seem to “hear “ the tinnitus noise. I cannot consciously turn off the tinnitus as I cannot consciously turn off sounds from hearing.
Known (proven) Causes of Tinnitus
– Jaw joint dysfunction (TMJ)
– Chronic neck muscle strain
– Excessive noise exposure
– Certain medications
– Wax buildup
– Cardiovascular disease
– Acoustic Neuroma (generally benign) a tumor behind the ear.
Is tinnitus in the ear or brain?
One does not hear tinnitus.
Recent studies show that a person’s experience with tinnitus originates with the brain interpreting the sensations, not the ears.
I can tell you that with tinnitus, it is very noisy inside my head! It is hard to believe that I don’t have to work harder at hearing things if there is a tinnitus sound track playing in the background! There is no surprise to me that my ability to hear is diminished having tinnitus! However, evidently it does not work that way because they are different pathways to the brain!
There are hundreds of “cures” and treatments for Tinnitus, ranging from herbal, Pulsate Tinnitus “Neosensory -Long Last Tinnitus Improvement, the Yuppie CBD gummies as seen on** Shark Tank. Other treatments include, ear wax removal, antidepressants, Tinnitus retraining Therapy, Cognitive behavioral therapy. Many Many others. Some of these must work for some or are just complete scams, but there is a whole industry for the treatment of tinnitus. Unfortunately none work consistently . A good article is Tinnitus. Tinnitus can be managed through strategies that make it less bothersome. No single approach works for everyone, and there is no FDA-approved drug treatment, supplement, or herb proven to be any more effective than a placebo. Behavioral strategies and sound-generating devices often offer the best treatment results — this is partially from distracting the individual’s attention from these sounds and can prevent a chronic manifestation. There is one pervasive online seller who is now offering $500 off their treatment. Who knows, maybe it will work.
I have tried some of the treatments and cannot tell you nothing works, and all of my Health Care Professionals have been no help. I have no hope for a cure of my Tinnitus.
My tests for Tinnitus state that “Tinnitus matches to 4000 hz (high-pitched), at 60dB HL (which is right at the threshold of hearing). This is the expected place for tinnitus due to hearing loss. (Shecklmann et al. 2012)
The only thing that helps is some sort of ambient noise level in an otherwise quiet environment. Luckily I don’t have any trouble sleeping, but late at night or early in the morning it is loud in here. I will get into masking in another article about OTC Hearing.
Everyone says that hearing aids help, and I am sure they will, but it seems to me to be a band-aid for my tinnitus issue because it just masks the noise. Some very high-end hearing aids claim they help by creating a negative sound wave that reduces the noise, but all that does is produce more noise into the equation and my head. Since I wouldn’t leave my hearing aids in late at night or early in the morning, when I most need it, this does not seem to be something I would pay a lot of money for. Point of fact -As mentioned above, I had my Tinnitus sound valued at Dr Dizzy, and it is at 4000 Db – the same tone as normal speech – so when I hear talking or TV or music, the sound waves at 4000 Db wash out the Tinnitus. Problem solved, I just have to listen to my wife or watch TV all of the day!
I recently had a CERT an MRI, x-ray and physical therapy to try to find the reason for my tinnitus and dizziness. My dizziness started with a bout of Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) – dizziness. This lasted for a few days and I did the simple exercises and it went away. Two years laterI have had more complicated issues and am seeing DR. Dizzy I am determined to find out about Tinnitus and its treatment – more about that later.
Nearly everyone has had tinnitus at one point or another, but it might be most familiar after going to a concert or club without hearing protection. That muffled, ringing sound we hear as we make for the exit is tinnitus. Usually after a few hours, the tinnitus is gone. But the permanent damage to our hearing has not necessarily been done— for some people, the tinnitus insidiously lingers, for some it goes away.
Dimentia Caused by hearing loss?
While there are a lot of theories about Tinnitus as a cause of Dementia, the whole areas of hearing loss/tinnitus/dementia are being constantly studied – certainly with no cures, and no consensus of cause and effect. This is a big industry and as us Boomers are coming of age and Billions of dollars are being spent on the issues – hopefully there will be breakthroughs will happen soon! Still searching:
I’m not worried anymore about Dementia caused by Tinnitus or Hearing Loss.
ps: By-the-Way, my superstar Neurologist scoffs at the science stating that my hearing loss would cause dementia as what was told me by my ENT!
