Hearing loss is a common condition that affects around 15 percent of people, most of them over sixty. For that reason, we dedicate this post to answering all your burning questions about hearing loss and what you can do to prevent it.
Is Hearing Loss Caused By Loud Noises?
Yes. It turns out that listening to loud noises (especially for a long period of time), is the most common cause of hearing loss. When high energy sound waves enter the ear, they damage the delicate structures that pick up sounds. And over time, this dulls the signals that the ear can send to the brain.
Conversations with friends are okay – these rarely exceed 60 dB. However, things start to get dangerous once you go past around 85 dB – roughly the noise level of regular traffic.
Is There Anything That I Can Do To Prevent Ringing In My Ears?
Ringing in the ears – also called tinnitus – is a common condition that can accompany regular hearing loss. Researchers believe that it happens when the brain starts to hallucinate sounds because they aren’t arriving from the ear.
The solution is a combination of hearing aids and tinnitus management. You can often reduce tinnitus by restoring sound signals reaching the brain. Failing that, you can also try listening to white noise to help cover up the regular tinnitus sound.
How Can You Prevent Hearing Loss?
There are many things that you can do to prevent hearing loss. The following are some ideas:
- Wear hearing protection, such as earbuds, whenever you know that you are going to be exposed to loud noises
- Lower the volume of your personal stereo
- Use noise-cancelling headphones so that you are less tempted to raise the volume to blot out other sounds in your environment
- Take a break from music for a while, especially if you listen to it through headphones for work
How Can I Tell If I Have A Hearing Issue?
It can sometimes be difficult to tell if you have a hearing loss issue or not. Often, hearing loss comes on slowly over the course of many years, making it hard to identify.
The trick here is to look for signs in your environment that might indicate you have a problem. For instance, have you recently been listening to your TV at a higher volume? If so, then it could indicate hearing loss. Similarly, you may suddenly find that you’re struggling to listen to what people are saying in conversation.
Another telltale sign is finding it hard to hear women and children talk. Usually, this type of hearing loss happens when your ears start finding it more difficult to hear high-pitch frequencies.
Does Hearing Loss Affect Younger People?
You might think hearing loss is just something that affects older folks. But it can occur at any age, depending on your circumstances.
Hearing loss can affect your life in profound ways, so you’ll want to get it sorted. Most people get used to wearing hearing aids rapidly which is good.