Growing up, you most likely started to connect hearing loss with growing old. You most likely had older people around you trying to understand conversations or using hearing aids.
As you become more mature, you begin to learn that there is an additional factor regarding hearing loss other than aging.
Here is the one thing you should know: Admitting that you have hearing loss will not make you old.
You can Start Loosing Your Hearing Even When Your Younger
By the age of 12, hearing specialists already begin to identify some hearing loss in 13% of cases. You’ll recognize, this is not because 12-year-olds are “old”. Teenage hearing loss has gone up 33% within the last 3 decades.
What’s going on here?
Out of all 45 – 55-year olds, 2% presently suffer from debilitating hearing loss, and with 55 – 65-year-olds it’s 8%.
It’s not an aging issue. What you might think of as age-related hearing loss is actually 100% preventable. Appreciably minimizing your hearing loss is very achievable.
Age-related hearing loss, recognised medically as sensorineural hearing loss, is most typically triggered by noise.
For decades hearing loss was thought to be inescapable when you age. But thanks to cutting-edge science we know much more concerning hearing loss prevention and also hearing regeneration.
How Hearing Loss is Caused by Loud Noise
You need to comprehend that noise is not harmless if you really want to begin to protect your hearing.
Waves of pressure are what makeup sound. These waves go into your ear canal. They move downward past your eardrum into your inner ear.
Tiny hair cells resonate here in the inner ear. A neurological code is made up of how fast and how regularly these little tiny hairs vibrate. This code will be translated by your brain into the sound of crickets, someone yelling for help, a waterfall, or any other sound which might be around.
The problem is at the time the inner ear is subjected to sounds that are too loud, these hair cells shake too quickly. They die because the vibrations become too loud for them to deal with.
If you don’t have them, you can’t hear.
Hearing Loss Triggered by Loud Sound is Permanent
If you cut your hand, the wound will heal. These little cells never heal. When they are gone, they are gone forever. Each and every time you are exposed to loud sound, a few more of these cells die.
As they die, hearing loss progresses.
There are Noises That are Common Which Will Cause Hearing Damage
This is a shocking fact for most people to learn. It’s very easy to overlook:
- Going to a concert/play/movie
- Wearing earbuds/head phones
- Turning the car stereo up too loud
- Mowing the lawn
- Using farm equipment
- Riding a motorcycle/snowmobile
- Driving on a busy highway with the windows or top down
- Working in a factory or other loud profession
- Hunting
- Being a musician
It’s not necessary to quit these activities. Fortunately, you can take practical steps to reduce noise-induced hearing loss.
Don’t Allow Hearing Loss Make you Feel old
If you’re already suffering from hearing loss, acknowledging it does not have to cause you to feel older. The longer you disregard it, the worse it will get, and you will wind up feeling older much sooner because of:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Dementia/Alzheimer’s
- Increased Fall Risk
- Social Isolation
- More frequent trips to the ER
- Strained relationships
These are all considerably more common in people with neglected hearing loss.
Avoid Further Hearing Injury
Begin by recognizing how to prevent hearing loss.
- Put a sound meter app on your smart-phone, and find out how loud common sounds really can be.
- Damaging volumes should be avoided without proper ear protection. Above 85 dB (decibels) can cause permanent hearing damage in 8 hours. 110 dB takes around 15 minutes to cause irreversible hearing loss. 120 dB and higher results in immediate hearing loss. A gunshot is 140 to 170 dB.
- You should know that you have already caused hearing damage if you have had a hard time hearing, or if your ears were ringing, after a concert. Over time it will get worse.
- Wear earplugs and/or sound-dampening earmuffs when necessary.
- Observe workplace hearing safety restrictions.
- Minimize your exposure time to loud sounds.
- Avoid standing close to loudspeakers or cranking speakers up when at home.
- Purchase earbuds/headphones which come with integrated volume control. These never go higher 90 decibels. You would have to listen almost non-stop all the time to do irreversible damage.
- High blood pressure, not enough blood oxygen, and several medications tend to cause you to be more susceptible at lower volumes. To be safe, don’t ever listen to headphones at above 50%. Car speakers vary.
- Put on your hearing aid. Not using a hearing aid if you require them causes the brain to atrophy. It’s comparable to your leg muscles. If you stop walking, it will be much more difficult to start walking again.
Schedule a Hearing Test
Are you in denial or putting off on it? Stop it. The sooner you make the wise choice the less injury you will keep doing.
Get in touch with Your Hearing Professional Regarding Hearing Solutions
There are not any “natural cures” for hearing loss. If hearing loss is severe, it might be time to get a hearing aid.
Do a Cost-Benefit Comparison of Hearing Aids
Lots of people are either in denial about hearing loss, or, they decide to “tough it out.” They feel that hearing aids will make them seem old. Or maybe they believe they are too expensive.
But when they realize that hearing loss will decline faster and can cause various health and personal complications, it’s simple to be certain that the pros well outweigh the cons.
Consult a hearing care professional today about getting a hearing examination. And if hearing aids are advisable, don’t be afraid of “feeling old.” Hearing aids today are much sleeker and more advanced than you may think!