When you were younger, you probably thought of hearing loss as a result of getting old. Older adults around you were probably wearing hearing aids or struggling to hear.
But just like 30 or 60 only seemed old to you until it started to catch up to you, as you learn more about hearing loss, you realize that it has less to do with aging and much more to do with something else.
This is the one thing you should know: It doesn’t make you old just because you acknowledge you have hearing loss.
Hearing Loss is an “Any Age Problem”
By the age of 12, audiologists can already identify some hearing loss in 13% of cases. You’ll recognize, this isn’t because 12-year-olds are “old”. Teen hearing loss has gone up 33% in the last 30 years.
What’s the cause of this?
2% of 45 – 55-year-olds and 8% of 55 – 64 year-olds already have debilitating hearing loss.
It isn’t an aging issue. What you may think of as age-related hearing loss is 100% preventable. And limiting its development is well within your ability.
Noise exposure is the most common cause of age related or “sensorineural” hearing loss.
For generations hearing loss was assumed to be inevitable as you age. But protecting and even repairing your hearing is well within the grasp of modern science.
How Noise Leads to Hearing Loss
The first step to protecting your hearing is understanding how something as “innocuous” as noise causes hearing loss.
Sound is composed of waves. The canal of your ear receives these waves. They progress down past your eardrum into your inner ear.
Here, small hair cells in your inner ear vibrate. What hair cells oscillate, and how quickly or frequently they vibrate, becomes a neurological code. Your brain then translates this code into sound.
But these hairs can oscillate with too much force when the inner ear receives sound that is too intense. The sound vibrates them to death.
When these hairs are gone you can no longer hear.
Why Noise-Activated Hearing Loss is Irreversible
Wounds such as cuts or broken bones heal. But when you impair these little hair cells, they cannot heal, and they never regenerate. The more often you’re subjected to loud sounds, the more little hair cells die.
Hearing loss worsens as they do.
Hearing Damage Can be Caused by These every day Noises
Most people don’t recognize that hearing loss can be caused by every day noises. You might not think twice about:
- Hunting
- Driving on a busy highway with the windows or top down
- Wearing earbuds/head phones
- Playing in a band
- Going to a movie/play/concert
- Riding a motorcycle/snowmobile
- Working in a factory or other loud profession
- Turning the car stereo way up
- Mowing the lawn
- Running farm equipment
You don’t need to give up these things. Fortunately, you can take proactive steps to minimize noise-induced hearing loss.
How to be Certain That You Don’t “Feel” Older When You Have Hearing Loss
If you’re currently suffering from loss of hearing, acknowledging it doesn’t have to make you feel older. Actually, you will feel older a lot sooner if you fail to recognize your hearing loss due to complications like:
- Anxiety
- Dementia/Alzheimer’s
- Depression
- More frequent trips to the ER
- Increased Fall Risk
- Strained relationships
- Social Isolation
These are all substantially more prevalent in individuals with neglected hearing loss.
Ways You Can Prevent Additional Hearing Damage
Understanding how to prevent hearing loss is the first step.
- Download a sound meter app on your mobile device. Find out how loud things really are.
- Learn about hazardous volumes. In under 8 hours, irreversible hearing loss can be caused by volumes over 85dB. Lasting hearing loss, at 110 dB, happens in about 15 minutes. 120 dB and over causes immediate hearing loss. A gunshot is between 140 to 170 dB.
- Recognize that If you’ve ever had trouble hearing for a while after going to a concert, you’ve already generated lasting damage to your hearing. It will become more severe over time.
- Use earplugs and/or sound-dampening earmuffs when necessary.
- Follow work hearing protection safeguards.
- Limit your exposure time to loud noises.
- Avoid standing close to loudspeakers or cranking up speakers at home.
- Some headphones and earbuds have on-board volume control for a less dangerous listening experience. They have a 90 dB upper limit. Most people would need to listen nearly continuously all day to cause irreversible damage.
- Some medications, low blood oxygen, and even high blood pressure can make you more susceptible at lower volumes. Always keep your headphones at or below 50%. Car speakers vary.
- Wear your hearing aid. The brain will start to atrophy if you don’t wear your hearing aid when you require it. It’s a lot like your leg muscles. If you stop making use of them, it will be difficult to start again.
Have a Hearing Test
Are you in denial or simply putting things off? Don’t do it. You have to acknowledge your hearing loss so that you will take measures to minimize further damage.
Consult With Your Hearing Specialist About Solutions For Your Hearing Loss.
Hearing loss does not have any “natural cure”. If hearing loss is extreme, it might be time to invest in a hearing aid.
Do a Comparison of The Cost of Investing in Hearing Aids to The Benefits
Many individuals are either in denial concerning hearing loss, or they choose to “tough it out”. They don’t want people to think they look old because they wear hearing aids. Or they think that they cost too much.
It’s easy to see, however, that when the harmful effect on relationships and health will cost more over time.
Consult a hearing care expert right away about having a hearing test. And you don’t need to worry that you look old if you wind up needing hearing aids. Present day hearing aids are stylish and advanced pieces of modern technology.
