Vivatone Treats Tinnitus with Hearing Aid?

Recently, AudiologyOnlines Dr. Paul Dybala had the opportunity to interview Dr. Natan Bauman, inventor of Vivatone hearing aid. Dr. Bauman is now using sound amplification to address both hearing loss and ringing in the ears.

It is not a new concept that hearing aids, to some degree, help people who have tinnitus. They actually help at two different levels. At one level, they reduce the relative perception of the internal sound of the tinnitus by providing external sound.

The other level is that when the brain is deprived of proper sound stimulation due to hearing loss, the brain has a tendency of increasing gain [volume] in the outer hair cells of the cochlea. By doing that, the auditory pathways inadvertently promote tinnitus. Therefore, amplification has been used widely for people who suffer from tinnitus and who obviously have some degree of hearing loss, Dr. Bauman clarified.

Amplifying Ambient Sound

According to Dr. Bauman it is a program for amplifying low level environmental sounds, not a noise generator that is often used with other tinnitus devices specifically for just tinnitus. Instead, the hearing aid is designed to immerse the wearer in ambient environmental sound more than normal amplification would.

So by wearing a hearing aid designed to increase sound volume to compensate for hearing loss, the patient gains an added benefit tinnitus is masked, but not by some artificial noise generator. Vivatones approach is to mask tinnitus with amplifying low level ambient environmental sounds. You know, the kind you are used to hearing.

The benefits to users of Vivatones Tinnitus program include:

• Amplification of low level ambient sounds allows to mask tinnitus
  
  
• Reducing the tinnitus, allows reduction in stress caused by the tinnitus.
  
  
• Open ear amplification that delivers a more natural sound and allows nature to mask the ringing in the ears thing.
  
  
• Vivatone delivers broader frequency response due to their high frequency receiver.
  
  
• Since many individuals who experience tinnitus are also highly-sensitive to loud sounds (its called hyperacusis if you want to discuss it with your hearing healthcare professional), the sound produced by Vivatone is compressed, meaning the sharpness that sometimes causes pain in tinnitus is eliminated.
  
  
• Vivatone units employ Microphone Polar Plot’, an omni directional microphone that picks up environmental sounds naturally the way sound is normally delivered to the ear.

See the benefits? Okay, now hear the benefits. To determine if you are a candidate for the Vivatone Tinnitus Program, make an appointment with your hearing healthcare professional and get caught up on what youve been missing sounds! And tune out what youve been hearing – ringing!

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