Top Tips to Protect Your Hearing

Our senses are precious. Having the ability to hear, smell, see, touch, and taste enhances our lives in so many ways. However, we often take our senses for granted. For many people, listening to music, hearing their loved ones voices, and the sounds of nature bring a lot of pleasure into their lives. But unless we actively protect our hearing, the ability to hear all of these sounds can be lost. 

Hearing is a sense that’s often susceptible to damage. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) states that around 30 million people in the United States aged 12 and over experience hearing loss in both ears. This demonstrates how common hearing loss is. But in some cases it’s possible for hearing loss to be prevented. Keep reading to learn some top tips to help you protect your hearing.

Get Your Hearing Checked Regularly

Many people believe that hearing loss is an expected part of the aging process. However, this doesn’t always need to be the case. Yes, many people find that their hearing deteriorates as they age. But this doesn’t mean you should just ignore it. Getting your hearing checked regularly is the first step to taking care of it. 

A hearing test gives a reading of your current hearing ability. This acts as a helpful benchmark for your hearing professional. It enables them to compare your results with subsequent tests to detect any deterioration in your hearing. This is valuable information and means hearing loss can be diagnosed quickly.

Be Aware of the Risks of Loud Noises

Understanding the dangers of being exposed to loud sounds and familiarizing yourself with safe noise levels can help you protect yourself from hearing damage. Noise-induced hearing loss can be permanent. It can occur if you are repeatedly exposed to excessively loud noise, such as listening to your music through headphones on full volume. It can also be caused by a one-off incident. 

Reducing your exposure to loud noises is an effective way to protect yourself from noise-induced hearing loss. This can be achieved by wearing ear defenders when working in noisy environments and turning down the volume of your music. Reducing the time you spend exposed to excessive noise is also really helpful. 

If You Need Hearing Aids, Be Sure To Wear Them

Finally, if you are told that you need hearing aids, it’s important to use them. Some people find it tricky to adapt to wearing their hearing aids. This could be because they feel self-conscious or simply because they aren’t sure how to wear hearing aids with glasses. If you have any concerns or questions about your hearing aids, your hearing professional can help you with these. 

Not wearing your hearing aids won’t cause your hearing to physically worsen. However, it can make it harder for you to hear. This is because your nerves won’t get the auditory stimulation needed to keep them functioning correctly, this means you could lose the ability to recognize certain sounds.