Mr. S. has a history of exposure to loud music which probably caused his hearing loss and bothersome tinnitus (noises in his ears). Before consulting me he did his homework on hearing devices that offer relief from tinnitus. He came to me with a list of hearing aids that had built in tinnitus maskers. I was familiar with most all of them. Tinnitus masking is a new trend for hearing aid manufacturers. I told him that a very good quality hearing aid without a tinnitus masker would probably do the job. My experience is that most people get relief from tinnitus when they wear their aids.
He made a wise choice to try the Starkey Wi 110 hearing aid. It does not have a tinnitus masker but has advanced technology that would allow me to fine tune the instruments to both optimize his hearing and relieve his tinnitus.
One week post fitting he returns and told me that the Wi 110 hearing aids did minimize his tinnitus and he hears great. He paid for them today. If he had seen no improvement we would have tried the Starkey Xino with a built in tinnitus masker.
