Early in life, you likely began to connect hearing loss with aging. You most likely had older people around you struggling to understand words or utilizing hearing aids.
As you grow up, you begin to realize that there is a different factor regarding hearing loss aside from aging.
A lot of people are scared to admit they have hearing loss because it makes them feel like they are getting old.
Hearing Loss Is an “Any Age Condition”
By the age of 12, hearing specialists can already detect some amount of hearing loss in 13% of instances. Needless to say, somebody who is 12 is not really “old”. Teenage hearing loss has gone up 33% in the past 30 years.
What’s at work here?
2% of 45 – 55-year-olds and 8% of 55 – 64-year-olds already have disabling hearing loss.
It’s not an aging issue. It’s totally possible to prevent, despite the fact that most people might think of it as an aging problem. Considerably reducing your hearing loss is within reach.
Age-related hearing loss, identified medically as sensorineural hearing loss, is most commonly caused by noise.
For decades hearing loss was thought to be inevitable as you get older. But presently, scientists know more about how to protect your hearing and even restore it.
How Hearing Loss is Caused by Loud Noise
You need to understand that noise is not harmless if you want to start to protect your ears.
Sound is composed of waves of pressure. These waves go into your ear canal. They travel all the way down beyond your eardrum into your inner ear.
Here, little hair cells in your inner ear resonate. Which hair cells vibrate, and how fast or frequently they vibrate, become a neurological code. 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 you.
The problem is at the time the inner ear is exposed to noises that are too loud, these hair cells shake too quickly. They die because the vibrations become too strong for them to handle.
Without them, you can not hear.
Why Noise-Induced Hearing Loss is Permanent
If you cut your body, the wound will heal. These little cells never heal. When they die, they are lost permanently. Every time you are exposed to loud sound, more of these cells die.
Hearing loss progresses as they die.
Everyday Sounds That Can Cause Hearing Injury
This is a shocking thing for most people to discover. It’s 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 manufacturing plant or other loud industry
- Hunting
- Playing music in a band
You don’t have to give up these activities. Luckily, you can take practical steps to reduce noise-related hearing loss.
You Don’t Need to Feel old Simply Because you Have Hearing Loss
If you’re already suffering from hearing loss, recognizing it does not need to make you feel older. Actually, failing to acknowledge it can doom you to faster advancement and problems that will certainly make you feel much older in just a few short years such as:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Dementia/Alzheimer’s
- Increased Fall Risk
- Social Isolation
- More frequent trips to the ER
- Strained relationships
For people with neglected hearing loss, these are significantly more likely.
How can you Avoid Continued Hearing Damage?
Learning how to protect against hearing loss is the first step.
- Find out how loud things really are by using a sound meter app on your phone.
- Learn about hazardous volumes. Over 85 dB (decibels) can cause irreversible hearing loss in 8 hours. 110 dB takes around 15 minutes to cause irreversible hearing loss. 120 dB and higher results in instant 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. As time goes by it will get worse.
- Put on earplugs and/or sound-dampening earmuffs when necessary.
- Observe workplace hearing safety procedures.
- Regulate your exposure time to loud sounds.
- Avoid standing in close proximity to loudspeakers or cranking speakers up when at home.
- Invest in earbuds/headphones that have built-in volume control. These don’t go over 90 decibels. Most people would have to listen practically non-stop all day to do irreversible damage.
- High blood pressure, not enough blood oxygen, and various medications tend to make you more vulnerable at lower volumes. To be certain, don’t ever listen to headphones at over 50%. Car speakers vary.
- Use your hearing aid. Not using a hearing aid if you need them causes the brain to atrophy. It’s much like your leg muscles. If you stop walking, it will be much more difficult to walk.
Contact a Hearing Professional for a Hearing Test
Are you in denial or procrastinating on it? Stop it. You need to know so you can be proactive to minimize further damage.
Speak to Your Hearing Specialist About Hearing Answers
There are not any “natural cures” for hearing damage. If you have severe hearing loss, it’s time to get a hearing aid.
You Should way the Cost Against the Benefits of Investing In Hearing Aids
Lots of people are either in denial about hearing loss, or, they decide to “tough it out.” They presume hearing aids will make them appear old. Or they believe they cost too much.
However as soon as they recognize that hearing loss will decline faster and can cause several health and personal issues, it’s easy to be certain that the pros well outweigh the cons.
Call a hearing care specialist today about getting a hearing test. And if hearing aids are suggested, don’t be afraid of “feeling old.” Hearing aids today are much sleeker and more sophisticated than you probably think!
