The first thing to do, when you start to recognize that you have hearing loss, is to eliminate further damage. After all, you can take some simple actions to stop additional damage and protect your ears.
Step 1: Clean Your Ears
Remember learning to make sure you clean behind your ears when you learned basic hygiene (or at least should have learned). But it’s actually the inner ear we’re worried about cleaning in terms of hearing health, not behind the ears.
Keeping your ears clear of wax buildup can help your hearing in a number of distinctive ways:
- Sound can be blocked from reaching the inner ear when there’s too much wax accumulation. This reduces your ability to hear.
- Over time, untreated hearing loss can impact your brain and your ability to decipher sounds.
- Earwax buildup also interferes with the operation of your hearing aid if you use one. This could make it seem like your hearing is getting worse.
- Unkempt ears raise your odds of developing an ear infection, which leads to inflammation that (when serious enough) impedes your hearing. When your ear infection clears, your regular hearing will usually come back.
You never turn to using a cotton swab to try and dig out excess earwax. Additional damage can be done by cotton swabs and they will often make it even harder to hear. Over the counter ear drops are a better idea.
Step 2: Avoid Loud Noises
This one is so instinctive it almost shouldn’t be on the list. But knowing how loud is too loud is the real difficulty for most individuals. As an example, highway driving can be loud enough to damage your ears over a long period of time. The motor on your lawnmower can be rather taxing on your ears, also. As you can tell, it isn’t just blasting speakers or loud rock concerts that harm your ears.
Some useful ways to avoid harmful noises include:
- Refraining from turning the volume up on your headphones when you’re watching videos or listening to music. When dangerous volumes are being reached, most phones feature a built in warning.
- Using hearing protection when noisy environments are unavoidable. Do you work on a loud factory floor? Do you really want to attend that rock concert? That’s great. But be certain to wear the proper protection for your hearing. A perfect illustration would be earmuffs and earplugs.
- When decibel levels get too loud, an app on your phone can notify you of that.
Damage to the ears from noise doesn’t develop suddenly, it progresses slowly. So if you’ve been to a noisy event, you could have done damage even if you don’t notice it. Only a hearing specialist can give your ears a clean bill of health.
Step #3: If You Have Any Hearing Loss – Get it Addressed
Hearing impairment accumulates generally speaking. So catching any damage early on will help prevent additional injury. So in terms of slowing down hearing loss, treatment is so essential. Effective treatments (on which you follow through) will keep your hearing in the best possible shape.
Here’s what you can expect:
- Our guidance will help you learn to safeguard your hearing because it is customized and personalized for you.
- Some, but not all damage can be avoided by using hearing aids. For example, hearing aids will stop you from turning your television volume up so loud it damages your ears. Hearing aids will counter further deterioration of your hearing by stopping this damage.
- The chance of developing hearing loss related health problems is reduced by wearing hearing aids because they minimize social solitude and brain strain.
You Will be Benefited in The Long Run by Decreasing Hearing Loss
Even though we don’t have a cure for hearing loss, further damage can be avoided with treatment. One of the primary ways to do that, in many situations, is hearing aids. Getting the necessary treatment will not only stop additional damage but also keep your current hearing level intact.
When you use hearing protection, practice good hygiene, and pursue hearing loss treatment, you’re taking the correct measures to minimize hearing loss while also giving yourself the best opportunity for healthy hearing in the years to come.