Your sense of hearing is crucial in your life and when you lose it, there will be no natural way for it to return But for some reason, hearing loss frequently goes neglected and uncontrolled in the general population. In the US alone, one in eight people over the age of 12 suffer from neglected and permanent hearing loss.
While there are treatments that can help you regain your hearing, like hearing aids, it’s such a simple thing to protect your ears from the beginning to prevent unnecessary hearing loss.
Here are five easy ways that you can protect your hearing:
Don’t use earbuds
Earbuds have been packaged with mobile devices since the early 2000s and are one of the greatest threats to hearing. These little devices fit snugly into the ear canal and pump sound straight into the inner ear and most smartphones come with them. You can get permanent hearing damage by listening to a movie or music on your mobile device at maximum volume for only 15 minutes. Over the ear style headphones, especially the ones with noise canceling technology, would be a better option. Following the 60/60 rule, which suggests a maximum volume of 60% for no more than 60 minutes a day, is another safety measure to protect your hearing.
Lower the volume
Earbuds don’t produce the only sounds that can damage 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 environments should be avoided. Avoiding these scenarios may only happen in a perfect world, particularly if you’re a construction worker or a musician. If that’s the case, then you’ll want to take note of the next item on the list.
Hearing protection will be helpful
If you have hobbies or work in a noisy environment, it’s essential that you make use of hearing protection. Hearing loss can happen in just 15 minutes at 85 decibels. Compare that to the following:
- Over a one hour visit to the indoor gun range, your ears are repeatedly exposed to gunfire that clocks in at over 150 decibels on average
- The noise of a construction site can be above 130 decibels and many workers spend 40 or more hours every week there
- Most concerts are between 100 and 120 decibels with headliners usually playing for about an hour and 20 minutes
The moral here is that you should invest in some kind of hearing protection like earmuffs or earplugs if you engage in any of these activities.
Take auditory breaks
Sometimes giving your ears a break is the best thing you can do. Even if you wear hearing protection, if you are subjected to loud sounds like these for extended periods, you should take some quiet breaks to give your ears some time to recover. That means, you most likely shouldn’t get into your car and begin blasting loud music right after you leave a 3-hour concert.
Check your medicine
Your medicine could actually have a substantial impact on your hearing. There are certain medicines that have been proven to cause hearing loss including some heart and cancer medications, aspirin, antibiotics, and anti-inflammatory medicine. Luckily, medication associated hearing loss normally only happens when more than one of these medications are taken together making it far less common.
Are you coping with hearing loss and want to seek out new treatment? Contact us today to set up a consultation.
Call Today to Set Up an Appointment
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