Ways to Help Prevent Hearing Loss.

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Your hearing is precious and needs to be protected. Hearing loss can be permanent but the good news is there are ways to help prevent hearing loss from sometimes happening in the first place.

• Get regular hearing checkups. Although you can request to have hearing screenings added to your regular primary care checkups, it is a good idea to have annual consults with hearing specialists like the ones at Always Hear. Professionals that specialize in this can recognize the signs of hearing loss and can help you to take fast action.
• Using earplugs or items specifically designed to protect hearing around loud noises.  Did you know that approx. 15% of Americans have hearing loss caused by loud leisure or work environments? Hearing loss can sneak up on you and before you know it, you may have a lifelong loss. The good news is that there are now many products specifically designed to protect hearing in jobs that have loud noise. So if you’re a musician or work with a chainsaw every day, there are plenty of options available to protect your hearing.
• Try not to avoid stress. Stress can cause a variety of health problems including tinnitus (hearing ringing in your ears) and or a host of other things. Try to find ways to manage or if possible, avoid stress. Did you know that exercising not only can reduce stress by actually can keep your ears healthy by pumping blood to all body parts including the parts of the ears?
• Exercise caution while using headphones, particularly earbuds, which can pose a higher risk. While recognizing that each device and pair of headphones can emit varying levels of sound, adhering to the 60-60 rule is advised for safer listening. This guideline suggests limiting volume to no more than 60% of maximum capacity and keeping listening sessions to no longer than 60 minutes daily.
• Be careful what medications you take, even if they’re over the counter. Ask your pharmacist or medical professional which drugs can affect hearing. You may be surprised at which common over the counter drugs can have negative effects on your hearing.
• Give your ears a rest. If you’ve been exposed to especially loud noise, give your ears a rest so they can recover. That means if you’re at a loud concert or other environment with loud noise, step outside or away from the noise every so often to give your ears a rest. Some research suggests that your ears can need an average time of 16 hours to attempt to recover from exposure to recent loud noise.
• Keep those swabs out of your ears. There are right ways and wrong ways to handle the cleaning of your ears. Ask your pharmacist, healthcare or hearing professional which methods are safest and most effective.
• Make sure your ears stay dry. Water in the ear can introduce types of bacteria that can cause infections. After swimming or bathing, you can towel dry your ears. If you feel water in the canal, you can try and turn your head sideways and let gravity do its job. If that doesn’t work, contact your pharmacist or medical professional for products or methods that can help remove the excess moisture safely and effectively. They can also advise on methods like earplugs to help them stay dry in the first place.

Although there are ways to help prevent hearing loss, if you have already experienced hearing loss of any kind, Always Hear is here to help!! Please contact us to schedule your FREE consultation and hearing test.