The first thing to do, when you begin to recognize that you have hearing loss, is to avoid added damage. After all, you can take some basic steps to prevent additional damage and safeguard your ears.
Step 1: Clean Your Ears
Did you clean behind your ears? It’s one of those early hygiene lessons you learn (or should have learned), right? But it’s actually the inner ear we’re concerned with cleaning when it comes to hearing health, rather than behind the ears.
Keeping your ears free from wax accumulation can help your hearing in a number of distinctive ways:
- Over time, untreated hearing loss can impact your brain and your ability to interpret sounds.
- Sound can be blocked from getting into the inner ear when there’s too much wax accumulation. Consequently, your ability to hear becomes diminished.
- Your ability to hear can also be interfered with if you get a serious ear infection which can also be caused by dirty ears. When your ear infection clears, your normal hearing will normally come back.
- Earwax accumulation also inhibits the operation of your hearing aid if you use one. This might make it seem as if your hearing is getting worse.
You never turn to the use of a cotton swab to try and dig out built up earwax. Additional damage can be caused by cotton swabs and they will often make it even harder to hear. Over the counter ear drops are a better choice.
Step 2: Avoid Loud Noises
This one should almost be left off the list it’s so obvious. The issue is that most individuals are hard-pressed to define what a “loud noise” actually is. For example, freeway driving can be loud enough to damage your ears over a long time period. Also, surprisingly, your lawn mower can take a toll on your ears. As you can see, it isn’t just blaring speakers or loud rock concerts that harm your ears.
Here are a few ways to avoid damaging noise:
- When decibel levels get too high, an app on your phone can alert you of that.
- Refraining from turning up the volume on your headphones when you’re watching videos or listening to music. When harmful levels are being reached, most phones have a built in warning.
- Using ear protection when noisy environments are unavoidable. Does your job put you on the floor of a noisy manufacturing plant? Do you really want to attend that rock concert? That’s cool. Just use the required ear protection. A perfect illustration would be earmuffs and earplugs.
Damage to the ears from noise doesn’t happen all of a sudden, it progresses slowly. So if you’ve attended a noisy event, you might have done damage even if you don’t realize it. You can only get a clean bill of health for your ears by a hearing professional.
Step #3: If You Have Any Hearing Impairment – Get it Treated
In general, hearing impairment is cumulative. So, the earlier you catch the damage, the better you’ll be capable of preventing further damage. So when it comes to stopping hearing loss, treatment is so important. Effective treatments (on which you follow through) will put your hearing in the best possible shape.
Here’s how treatments work:
- Our advice will help you learn to protect your hearing because it is customized and personalized for you.
- The chance of developing hearing loss related health problems is reduced by using hearing aids because they prevent social isolation and brain strain.
- Hearing aids can stop some, but not all, damage. Hearing aids will, for example, let you listen to the TV or music at a lower volume, avoiding damage. Because hearing aids counter this damage, they can also stop further decline of your hearing.
Limiting Hearing Impairment Will Benefit You in The Long Run
While it’s true that hearing loss can’t be cured, getting treatment for your hearing loss will help prevent further damage. One of the principal ways to do that, in many cases, is hearing aids. The correct treatment will help you maintain your current level of hearing and prevent it from worsening.
Your allowing yourself the best opportunity for healthy hearing into the future by wearing ear protection, getting the correct treatment, and exercising good hearing hygiene.