The Study
Hearing Aid Amplification Schemes Adjusted to Tinnitus Pitch: A Randomized Controlled Trial
This study tested three different ways to adjust hearing aids for people with ringing in the ears, and found that none of the special settings worked better than the regular one. It’s like testing three different flavors of ice cream to see which one makes you feel better — and none of them did. So we can’t say one flavor causes improvement.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Scientists tested if hearing aids that boost or cut out the exact sound you hear ringing in your ears work better than regular ones.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 580 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1The improvement from new hearing aids was small and likely just from getting used to them—not from the special settings.
- 2The special settings didn't help more than regular ones.
- 3After using three types of hearing aids for four weeks each, the ringing didn't get significantly quieter with any special setting.
- 4But everyone felt a little better after two weeks of using new hearing aids, probably because they were excited about them.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Audiology Research
Year
2025
Authors
José L. Santacruz, E. de Kleine, P. van Dijk
Related Content
Claims (6)
After two weeks of using standard hearing aids, people on average report a 6.9-point decrease in tinnitus-related disability, but this change may be due to the novelty of the device or psychological expectations rather than a direct biological effect.
Hearing aids that only amplify sounds up to 8 kHz cannot help people whose tinnitus is higher in pitch, and there is no consistent pattern showing that matching the tinnitus pitch improves hearing aid effectiveness.
For adults with tinnitus and hearing loss, the choice of hearing aid amplification setting—notch, boost, or standard—is not determined by hearing test results or the pitch of the tinnitus; instead, preferences are evenly spread across all settings, showing that personal experience guides the choice more than objective measurements.
For adults with moderate hearing loss and chronic tonal tinnitus, hearing aids customized to the pitch of their tinnitus—either by amplifying that specific frequency or by removing it with a 60 dB notch filter—do not result in a meaningful improvement in tinnitus-related disability compared to standard hearing aid settings after four weeks of use.
For adults with tinnitus and hearing loss, different types of hearing aid settings—notch-filtered, boosted, or standard—produce the same level of benefit as measured by the APHAB test.
Hearing aids increase the volume of external sounds but do not lessen the ringing sensation associated with tinnitus.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.