Hello, my son Brian is 7 yrs. old and it was discovered when he was 4 that he had a moderate/severe congenital hearing loss. He has worn hearing aids since then and his ability to hear different frequencies fluctuates. He just recently told me that he hears a constant ringing or screeching in his ears all the time. He just figured it was normal becuase he says he has always heard it and it never stops. It keeps him from going to sleep at night and it really bothers him. It isn't feedback from the hearing aids because I would hear that, and he knows the difference. I want to know if this is normal in children with hearing loss. What could I do to reduce or eliminate the ringing, if anything?

Dear Mrs. Miller
Ringing in the ears (tinnitus) is very common for people who have a hearing loss and it has been studied intensely for many years. There is no medication to reduce the ringing, however wearing hearing aids tends to help. Does your son notice that the ringing isn't as bad during the day while he is wearing amplification? If hearing aids do help, he might want to go to sleep wearing them, and you can remove them after he is sleeping. White noise also seems to cover the ringing sound, and it is possible to purchase an audio tape that plays white noise in a boom box beside the bed. The experience is like having a constant background noise such as while sitting in an airplane or near an air conditioner. Your ENT specialist might have more suggestions and I encourage you to ask him, also.
The bottom line is that you can't eliminate tinnitus, but you can take measure to cover it, and either using hearing aids at night or finding a source of white noise, might be helpful for Brian.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Sutherland