“Increasingly, Harvard Medical School scientists are finding evidence that some people have “hidden” hearing loss: damage to the auditory nerve — which carries sound signals from the ear to the brain — that isn’t picked up by conventional tests.

For people with measurable hearing loss, getting hearing aids sometimes reduces the perception of tinnitus. But hearing aids aren’t recommended for people with normal hearing test results — even if your doctor suspects hidden hearing loss — since we don’t have tests outside of research labs to measure it.

Still, the new evidence linking hidden hearing loss and tinnitus offers hope for people with tinnitus. “When you have hidden hearing loss, only a portion of the auditory nerve has degenerated. Another portion remains alive for years or decades. And a number of experiments by others have found that it’s possible to regenerate nerve fibers in animal models,” Maison says. “If we can one day regenerate those fibers in humans, perhaps it might bring back missing information to the brain, reducing its hyperactivity and the perception of tinnitus.”

Until that day comes — and it’s unclear when or if it will — we have only limited ways to cope with the problem.”

Harvard Health Publishing / Harvard Medical School