Over the years, due to a range of factors, both genetic and environmental, a person’s sensory abilities can start to decline. Many people find that their eyesight gradually gets worse as they get older, for example, and have to seek out corrective lenses in order to see more clearly, while many elderly people also notice that they aren’t able to taste foods with the same clarity as before.
Hearing is another sense that can deteriorate with age, and hearing loss is actually the third most common chronic condition in America today. Countless people of varying ages are having to deal with the consequences of hearing loss, and it can be very difficult to live as comfortably and happily as before when you find it hard to hear things like the speech of those around you.
Hearing loss can occur naturally over time, simply due to the aging process, but the process can be sped up in various ways, like regular exposure to loud sounds, listening to music in headphones at too high of a volume, using certain medications, or failing to look after your ears correctly. This guide will therefore take a look at some useful tips to prevent hearing loss.
Get Checkups on a Regular Basis
Over the years, all kinds of health issues can arise in a person’s life, and without proper medical training and experience, it’s impossible for the average person to be able to accurately diagnose their problems. This is why experts widely recommend visiting doctors and specialists on a regular basis for check-ups, just to ensure that everything is okay or to spot problems before they get worse.
Having an annual hearing check-up is a really effective way to combat hearing loss before it becomes too severe. Medical experts will be able to inspect your ears and carry out simple tests to check for the signs of hearing loss, making recommendations or offering essential advice to help you better protect your ears.
Use Earplugs
One of the biggest threats to your ears and sense of hearing is exposure to loud sounds. Unfortunately, some people are exposed to noises on a regular basis as a part of their day-to-day work. If you work in a factory, for example, you might have to deal with the loud sounds of machines all the time, and there are many other professions in which exposure to noise is an inevitable factor of working life.
This is where earplugs can come into play. In areas where loud noises are frequent, it’s recommended to make use of earplugs to protect your hearing. Earplugs help to muffle loud sounds, preventing those heavy noises from entering the ear and possibly doing damage to the fragile bones within. Earplugs are also recommended for other loud environments like concerts and parties.
Be Kind to Your Ears
Another way in which you can act to prevent hearing loss is to actually start being kinder and gentler to your ears on a more regular basis. For example, if you like to listen to loud music via headphones or earbuds, try turning the volume down a little. Just a small change in volume shouldn’t make much difference to your listening experience and can really be much safer for your ears.
It’s also worth considering over-ear headphones if possible, as they tend to be much safer for the ears than in-ear buds that sit very close to the delicate eardrum. Also, experts recommend taking breaks in between listening to music or being in noisy environments in order to let the ears rest and recover.
Be Careful with Cleaning
Many people make use of swabs or Q-tips to clean their ears on a regular basis. This may seem like an essential part of your regular hygiene routine, but there are actually various studies and research papers that state that using Q-tips can actually be quite dangerous, potentially scratching, irritating, and doing damage to the ear canal and even the eardrum in some cases when the Q-tips are used incorrectly.
It’s normal to have wax in the ears, and the ear is a self-cleaning part of the body, so it’s not really necessary for people to interfere in the cleaning of their own ears, and if you do have any kind of blockage in the ears, it’s better to seek out the help of a doctor rather than trying to deal with it on your own.
Final Word
These are just some of the small and simple changes you can start making today to protect your ears from future damages. Be sure to visit your doctor if you notice any issues with hearing or ears.
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