Minimize Hearing Loss With These Three Basic Steps

Whether you’re concerned that you might already be experiencing hearing loss, or you have simply become a lot more aware of the risk, it’s important to take steps to avoid doing extra damage to your hearing health. Thankfully, there are three simple steps that you need to follow to mitigate your chances of decreasing your range of hearing.

Clean Your Ears

That’s right, it’s important to clean your ears and not just behind them as well. The inner ear can begin to experience problems when you have too much wax build-up that is not being cleaned out of there in general.

For one, if you don’t clean your ears, then the presence of too much earwax and the bacteria that can build up can eventually lead to an ear infection. Inflammation from these infections blocks sounds from reaching the inner ear. This hearing loss usually goes away when the infection is treated but sometimes it can last longer. Similarly, if you experience temporary hearing loss due to an earwax blockage, then your ear can begin to unlearn how to transmit sounds to your brain, which will reduce your ability to hear.

If you do have a buildup of earwax, then you should make sure that you avoid using a cotton swab to clean it. Cotton swabs can end up pushing earwax further in, doing more harm to your ears than good.

Mind Your Noise Levels

You’ve likely heard at some point of your life that loud noises can make you go deaf. It is true that excessive levels of noise over 85 decibels (dB) can cause permanent hearing loss. The noises that fit around this level include things like your lawnmower’s motor or loud traffic on the highway. This level of noise can start to affect your hearing after two hours of exposure, but many of us get exposed to louder noises, which can do harm in less time.

There are various ways to avoid damaging levels of noise. For one, make sure you never turn your volume on your headphones or earbuds up to the max. Most smartphones can go up to volumes of 110dB, which can do damage within five minutes. You want to keep it around 50-60% on the volume slider. You might even want to use an app to alert you when you’re getting to dangerous levels of noise.

If you work or enjoy hobbies in loud environments, then make sure that you’re bringing hearing protection with you. Whether it’s a construction site, factory floor, concert or shooting range, then make sure you’re wearing earmuffs or earplugs that offer the appropriate level of protection to reduce your noise exposure down to safe and healthy levels.

Know and Treat Your Hearing Health

The single best way to make sure that you’re not exacerbating any hearing loss is to stay on top of it early and regularly. Treatment is vital for preventing hearing loss, so you should get in touch with your hearing instrument specialist as soon as possible. Most treatments begin with a hearing test. This is a simple noninvasive series of tests that measures your range of hearing, which can help you understand if you do or don’t have hearing loss.

If you are experiencing hearing loss, then hearing aids are likely to be the most common route of treatment. These devices can help improve your hearing health as well as prevent ongoing damage to your hearing, by making you less likely to expose yourself to loud noises as well as preventing the degeneration of hearing.

Furthermore, a hearing instrument specialist can offer you advice on how to protect your hearing, how to best use your hearing aids and how to help you communicate with people that will help you increase your quality of life across the board.

Take steps to protect your hearing now

Hearing loss is cumulative and often gradual enough to the point that you might not realize that it’s starting to affect you. The single best way to make sure that you’re protecting yourself from it is to work with e hearing instrument specialist like the Center for Better Hearing as soon as possible. Call us today at 510-768-7091 and talk to us about how we can help you minimize hearing loss even further.