Your sense of hearing is essential in your life and when you lose it, there will be no natural way of getting it back. But strangely, the general public tends to ignore hearing loss. In the US alone, one in eight people over the age of 12 is dealing with neglected and permanent hearing loss.
Protecting your hearing from the start is the best and simplest way to prevent hearing loss, but if you currently have hearing loss you can get much of your hearing back with a hearing aid.
Protect your hearing with these five tips:
Don’t use earbuds
Earbuds have been packaged with mobile devices since the early 2000s and are one of the greatest threats to hearing. Almost every smartphone on the market comes with a set of these little devices that fit snugly in your ear and pump sound directly into your ear canal. Listening to a movie or music on your mobile device at full volume for only 15 minutes can lead to permanent hearing loss. The better option would be to get a pair of earmuff-style headphones that go over your ears, which is made even more effective if you can find a pair that has noise-canceling technology. Adhering to the 60/60 rule, which recommends a maximum volume of 60% for no more than 60 minutes per day, is another safety measure to safeguard your hearing.
Keep your volume low
Earbuds don’t generate the only sounds that can harm your hearing. Loud noises from a TV or radio can do as much damage if you regularly listen to them over a prolonged period of time. Gun ranges, concerts, construction zone, and other noisy settings should be avoided. It might be unrealistic to completely avoid these settings especially if they’re part of your job. The next item on the list will be significant if you’re in this situation.
Utilize hearing protection
If you have hobbies or work in a noisy environment, it’s crucial that you use hearing protection. 85 decibels over a period of 15 minutes is enough to cause hearing loss. Compare that to the following:
- Jackhammers at a construction site produce 130 decibels, which could cause significant harm after a 40-hour workweek
- Over a one hour trip to the indoor gun range, your ears are repeatedly exposed to gunfire that clocks in at over 150 decibels on average
- Most concerts are between 100 and 120 decibels with headliners commonly playing for around an hour and 20 minutes
The takeaway here is that you should purchase some sort of hearing protection like earmuffs or earplugs if you engage in any of these activities.
Take auditory breaks
There are times you just need to give your ears a rest. Even if you wear ear protection, if you are subjected to loud noises like these for prolonged periods, you should take some quiet breaks to give your ears a chance to rest. That means, you probably shouldn’t get into your car and start blasting loud music right after you come out of a 3-hour concert.
Check your medicine
Your hearing could be substantially impacted by the medication you use. There are certain medications that have been proven to trigger hearing loss including certain heart and cancer medications, aspirin, antibiotics, and anti-inflammatory medicine. The good news is that medication-related hearing loss is not common and is more likely if you use two or more of those medications together making it easier to prevent.
Are you suffering from hearing loss and want to seek out new treatment? Get in touch with us today to schedule a consultation.
Resources
https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hearing_loss/how_does_loud_noise_cause_hearing_loss.html
https://armeddefense.org/hearing-protection
https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/tf3092