Can hearing aids cause ringing/buzzing sounds?
 

Help!! Ever since last summer when I was put on meds for high blood pressure, my hearing aid would cause the ringing/buzzing sounds. It could be coincidence but I saw an audiologist and was told there aren't any more analogue hearing aids (which now I know is not true). Anyway, I got a new ear mold and a loaner to try it out. My gosh... it was fine for a week when I have it on low setting. I upped the sound. The ringing/buzzing sounds returned. Few friends of mine was told the hearing aids (both digital and analogue) maxxed out on them and was referred them to get ci which they did and love. I am resisted to getting CI. I love it when I had my analogue hearing aid. So now the question is.... is it possible that hearing aids (both analogue and digital) can cause the ringing/buzzing sounds?

It's more likely the decline of your auditory nerve.

Yep, both kinds of hearing aids can buzz if the mold is not tight enough, or if the volume is too high.
And one thing to do is ask a hearing person... Can u hear the buzz to rule out buzz ringing caused by medicine.

Bottesini... according to the audiogram, I've lost more of my ridual hearing so that could be it too.

Silent Rider... My kids who are hearing have said they don't hear the ringing sounds. The ear mold is new and snugging which is not causing the sounds.

So I guess now the real question is ...Does that mean the hearing aids are maxxed out for me to use and need to get CI in order to hear music and my kids?

Hmm, if they don't hear it.. it might be phantom ringing sounds inside head? Have u tried the digital aids?, some are very well made to adjust to what u can hear and can't and adjustable to what u need so u wont need to Max out the volume .. just ideas. Good luck

I am currently using a digital hearing aid on loan. It's not working out, especially with loud noises (especially my 6 year old when he gets excited) and in the car. I am also having a cold. That could be it. However in the past when I had my analogue hearing aid and with a cold, I didn't have any ringing or buzzing sounds. Even the ENT and audiologist can't understand why I am getting the ringings.

dude, that would be tinnitus.

That's what I was thinking too. That it's not the aids but tinnitus.

Okay, if it's tinnitus, it only occurs when I wear the hearing aid. So what gives? In the past, when the ringing occured, I would wear my hearing aid to mask the ringings. But now, it's the opposite. The audiologist can't seem to pinpoint the problem. I am trying to get to the bottom of this before I decide to purchase new hearing aid. :)

Back when I wore a hearing aid, it seemed like it caused ringing in the ear for me too. But what was really going on was just that my tinnitus had gotten worse and more frequent, and the hearing aid somehow started to aggravate it. It's part of why I went for a CI, I was hoping it would help stop the ringing in my ears.

I used to get these sometimes when i had HA's. I would just take them out and not even listen to any noise for a whole day (if you're staying at home and not going anywhere for the day.) and then the next day i would put them back in and it would help. Even with the residual hearing losing or not, i would still get them with my HA's. to me i would just leave the aid out for a day and just let the ear relax and chill out for awhile. maybe that would help?

...and did it work?

Yes, in a way. Whenever I am wearing it and have it turned on it distracts my brain from the tinnitus and bypasses whatever it was that was making the hearing aid make it all worse. So it seems like it kills the tinnitus, although in reality it's just overriding it.

When not wearing it, though, I notice it, so it FEELS like my ears mostly only ring when the implant is off now. But it's a lot easier to deal with since I get a "break" from the tinnitus during the day when with the implants on. Additionally, the ringing isn't as severe... it's sort of like after a full day of the implant overriding the tinnitus, my brain is conditioned to cope with it better once it comes off. If that makes sense.

That makes sense. So it must be the joy of getting older too. It's so strange that a hearing aid would aggravated rather than override the tinnitus. A friend of mine experienced the same thing and got implanted. She enjoys it but does not wear it all the time since the sounds can be over stimulating for her which will be same for me. Also my ex husband went through the same thing and got CI. He wears it the minute he wakes up to the minute he goes to bed. He doesn't get ringings in his ears like my friend who still gets them but mildly and less frequently.

I will go for a second opinion to be safe and try a loaner for abit longer to see. I will get CI but only as the last resort. I hate going through surgeries. Not my cup of tea...

@Grummer.... I like the three pictures with different facial expression. Is that you with all tht make up and hairdo?? :hmm:

Can you try a different hearing aid? I tried a loaner Oticon Chili this past summer, and was so excited about it based on so many people here really liking it.

I HATED it! I don't know if it was the adjustment, or what, but it made noises uncomfortably loud yet not at all clear. Listening to music was terrible. I tried it out for several days, and then returned it saying it just wasn't for me.

My Phonaks are now several years old, and I'd like to try the new Naidas, but in the meantime, they are much, much better for me than the Oticons were.

HA fitting is as much art as science, I'm quite sure. No one else has your ears; how you react and how things sound to you is a very personal thing. If you're not eager to get CIs, trying out a lot of different aids seems a very reasonable thing to do.

Difficult, though, since so many audis only represent one or two brands, and getting loaners is by no means always an easy thing to do. It's time-consuming to check all this stuff out.

Thank you!! That is what I needed to "hear". I have an appt with an audio tomorrow for adjustment on the loaner as I was hearing the high frequency sounds ( strange ). The loaner is Phonak. Maybe the Phonak isnt working for me. Like you said, everyone's ears are different. Trying different aids would be best to do before CI (if needed).

I meant I was NOT hearing the high frequency sounds. I guess that's what happens when one drinks wine. :giggle:

It could be the hearing aid or the ear mold?

When ear molds get old, they can sometimes cause feedback or sound distortions.

When hearing aids are not kept dry (using dry storage containers), they can get dirty inside and also cause malfunctions.

It wasn't that. I had gotten a new ear mold. It was tinnitus.

An interesting visit with the audiologist today.... I asked if at the end the hearing aid does aggravate the tinnitus, would CI help and be an option? She stated that I would not be a good candidate for CI because I was born Deaf and wore hearing aids since I was young. She said CIs work best for those lost their hearing after birth. I thought that was funny because many of my friends who were born Deaf, now have CIs and work fine for them. I am going to get a second opinion on the whole thing.

Your symptoms sound like recruitment to me.

It could be feedback. If the ear mold is fitted right, it's most likely due to wax in the ear. You should have your doctor remove the wax in your ear before you go to take the impression for a new mold. Also, some molds for profound users have to fit just right. If you open your mouth and get feedback, chances are it's a poor fit. Try taking the mold impression with your mouth open, this helped with my mold giving it a tighter fit.

If it is tinnitus loud noises can make it happen to you so the feedback could be causing that as well.

Another thing to consider is if u used an analog hearing aid for a long time and just now trying digital hearing aid you could be waking up parts of the ear that didn't.pick up a certain tone. And takes time to wake up with digital. And from it. New nerves shooting fire works?

That makes total sense. Would the new sounds especially when loud, trigger the ringing sounds? I have to keep the setting low otherwise the ringing sounds would begin. I just had the high frequency programmed. We will see how that goes. The auddie said she found a hearing aid that's close to an analog..Oticon Sumo E which is an analog digitally programmedable. Right now the loaner is a Phonax. It's okay. Everything sounds robot-like, not the best sound.

I think this is probably it. I started getting ringing in my right ear as it lost more and more hearing, and I wasn't using a hearing aid in that ear anymore. In my left ear I always use a hearing aid and never had ringing in it.

A couple things here... the deaf before or after birth is not really the issue. The issue is learned speech. If you learned speech at a young age with HA then you may have benefit from CI after HA no longer help you. If you never really learned to hear speech then a CI would be very challenging (for speech but might be an option for other sounds).

Your Audiologist cannot work with you with a CI. He/she will lose you as a customer if you get a CI. Have a discussion with a CI doctor. The Dr will have you work with one of their CI audiologist. They have the training and the equipment to work with CIs and can properly evaluate you for candidacy for a CI.

Bottom line? get a second opinion...

I had months of being told the buzzing noise in my ears couldn't possibly be out of my hearing aids it must be tinnitus. The Siemens rep came and started on me like I was making it up and causing trouble. The audiologist had been way out of her depth doing my fitting and kept insisting that if anything the "M" class hearing aid was too powerful! I finally got to see a new audio who changed me to a Phonak SP and there has been no more dead wasp noise in my ears. He says the aids were underpowered for my needs and the buzz was a kind of feedback. The new aids usually have anti-feedback systems in them, but the feedback has to be turned into something, sometimes it cuts some of the power from the aids to reduce the feedback noise, sometimes it makes a ringing or buzzing or warbling noise. If you have anti-feedback maybe have that turned off, though it might mean you then start to get feedback instead, but you are closer to the source of the problem.

I am in the process of getting a second opinion. What you said made alot of sense. I was born deaf but had always heard speech sounds and the high/low frequency sounds. For years, people thought I was hearing and from another country. Ha! :lol: but I'm proud to be :deaf: I am checking everything. I want answers! :naughty:

ummm...interesting... I'll keep that in mind when I see the audio tomorrow for some adjustment to the loaner hearing aid. I just realized I am using the Phonak. My audio thinks the Oticon might be better for me but they don't have a loaner in that brand. I rather try it with a loaner before purchasing an hearing aid and later to find that it doesn't work.

I'm not much different from you. I lost my hearing at 3 or 4 so I already developed speech skills, then had HAs until recently. I lost all of my hearing and got a CI.