Taking care of your hearing should start at a young age. Usually, by the time someone notices that they experience hearing difficulties, it is already too late to reverse the process and it may be necessary to start wearing a hearing aid. There is still no cure for permanent hearing loss and although age related hearing loss is likely to occur at some point of every person’s life, there are a few ways to delay its onset.
10 Tips on how to take care of your hearing:
1. Check the noise level
If you spend most of your time in a noisy environment, due to your type of work or way of life, it is good to assess the chances of suffering noise induced hearing loss in the future. You can download free apps that measure decibel levels onto your smartphone.
2. Wear hearing protection
In cases where your environment is considered potentially harmful for your hearing, remember to wear hearing protection – e.g. different types of noise suppression earplugs and domes, etc. It is good to wear them even at home during certain noisy activities, for example, while using a lawnmower.3. Don't listen to loud music for too long
Avoid listening to loud music for long periods of time, especially if you use headphones whose plugs are placed in the ear. Take them off at regular intervals and allow your ears to rest and recover from the excessive noise.4. Don't allow water to get in your ear
While enjoying your favourite water sports such as swimming, water skiing, surfing, diving, etc., it is important to protect your ears from the water and prevent it from entering into the ear canal. The use of earplugs is advisable, especially if you are susceptible to frequent ear infections.5. Maintain good ear hygiene
Taking care of your hearing means maintaining good ear hygiene, but remember to clean your ears carefully and use products that are specially designed for this purpose. It is good to remember that earwax is a natural protector of the ear and unless its amount is excessive, thickened and causing problems, it should not be removed, especially with the help of cotton buds that may damage the ear canal or eardrum.6. Treat any ear problems immediately
If you experience ear pain or notice the symptoms of an ear infection (itching, swelling, leaking pus, etc.) go to your GP as soon as possible. Untreated infections may lead to hearing loss.7. Seek medical advice immediately with sudden hearing loss
In cases of sudden hearing loss due to an accident or a head trauma, you should seek medical advice immediately.8. Be careful with ototoxic medicines
Before taking any medications, check if they are considered ototoxic, i.e. having a toxic effect on the ear or its nerve supply. Discuss with your GP the possible complications and their symptoms.9. Check your hearing regularly
It is good to check your hearing once every year, even if you do not experience any hearing problems.10. Stay healthy and keep your blood pressure down
Try to lead a healthy lifestyle and keep your blood pressure within reasonable limits. If it is too high, it may cause pain, discomfort and ringing in the ears. We hope our tips on how to take care of your hearing have helped. If you have any questions our professionally qualified audiologist and her team are here to help.Our online hearing test
Why not check your hearing now with ourfree and easy online hearing test. You'll only need a pair of headphones and we'll send you your results as an audiogram instantly.About Hearing Direct
We are one of the world's leading hearing aid specialists. HearingDirect offers a wide range of affordable products, and information resources to help improve the quality of life for the hard of hearing. We sell:- Hearing aids,
- Batteries,
- Accessories such as earplugs,
- and amplified devices such as super loud alarm clocks and amplified phones.
