A lot of people eventually realize that they are constantly pressing the “volume up” button on the remote when they are watching TV or that people who want to speak with them often raise their voices. There are two reasons that people start losing their hearing:
- Age: As you age, the tiny cells in your ears slowly start breaking down and they cannot pick up the sound vibrations as well as they did in the past.
- Noise: A lot of loud noise over time can damage the cells, resulting in hearing loss.
If you’d like to learn more about noise-induced hearing loss, check out this article on ziphearing.com
However, the good news is that you cannot do various things to prevent losing your hearing, hence here is a list of tips to help you keep your ears, and hearing sharp:
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Avoid too much noise
Are you wondering how loud is too loud? If you have to shout in order to speak to someone, it is loud enough to hinder your hearing. Sounds from concert speakers, power tools like drills and saws, motorcycles, earphones, and other things are all loud enough to permanently damage your hearing.
Be a Quiet enforcer
You should consider buying devices and appliances that have a low noise rating. And if anything is too loud at a restaurant, bar, or coffee shop, you could ask the manager or workers to turn it down a bit.
Limit the loud sounds in your life
Of course, there will be situations where you will not be able to avoid sounds like an ambulance siren or a jackhammer on the street, however, you can limit the time you will spend around it. Noise-induced hearing loss is a product of loudness of sounds and how long you hear them for.
Wear hearing protection
According to the experts from centuryhearingaids.com, if you know that you will spend some time around loud noises, you should wear ear protection like:
- Earplugs: this type of protection is made from rubber or foam, they go into the ear canal and reduce the noise from 15 to 30 decibels.
- Earmuffs: this type of protection will completely cover your ear and reduce the noise from 10 to 30 decibels. In order to block the sound, they need to be adjusted tightly over your ears.
If you want even more protection from noise, you could wear the earplugs and earmuffs at the same time.
Do not smoke
Cigarettes can make you more prone to losing your hearing. So, if you enjoy lighting up one, you will not have an even better reason to quit. However, if you are not a smoker, you should avoid breathing in secondhand smoke.
Remove earwax properly
If there is a buildup of wax in your ears, it might muffle the sound. However, do not use a cotton swab to clean them out, since they can push it even deeper. Instead, use a home-irrigation kit to soften the wax and then gently wash it out.
Conclusion
If you have relatives with hearing loss, trouble hearing conversations, if you are around noise often or if you hear a constant ringing in your ears, you might want to get a hearing test. If you experience hearing loss, there are still some things that you can do to hinder the progression of losing your hearing, hence, by following these tips, you can prevent losing your hearing.