Tips To Protect Your Hearing Health As You Age
3 Aug, 2021Despite living a busy life, there are many things we do to stay motivated and to take charge of our well-being. We eat healthily, take vitamins and be active to clinch on health and well-being. Nonetheless, as we age, many of us forget about ensuring our hearing health. We never give much thought to ensuring hearing until we see signs of poor hearing.
However, it is imperative to take steps to protect our hearing as we age. This is because hearing loss can be permanent and we may not get back our lost hearing ability with treatment. Loss of hearing is common in seniors over the age of sixty and many seniors visit health care facilities complaining about hearing loss.
The Main Causes Of Hearing Loss
There can be many causes of hearing loss and some of the most common ones are:
- Noise: High levels of noise and sound pollution can result in ringing and hearing loss.
- Disease: Some diseases like meningitis and measles are known to cause loss of hearing.
- Injury: Injuries can happen when there is a very big change in air pressure or perforation in the eardrum.
- Medications: Some medications and chemicals can result in damage to hearing and hearing loss.
You need to understand that noise-induced loss of hearing is usually painless and irreversible, however, it is preventable. Protecting hearing health not only allows you to care for others but also can ensure your independence in later stages of your life.
The experienced staff in post acute care facilities and other senior healthcare facilities share some ways to help preserve your hearing as you age.
- Reduce your exposure to sounds over eighty-five decibels (the noise of a lawn-mower or a motorcycle is between 85 and 90 decibels.)
- Avoid environments with loud sounds. A good way to understand loud sound environments is to see if you need to raise your voice to be heard.
- If you are not in a situation to avoid loud sound environments, move away from speakers and do your best to protect your ears.
- If you notice any changes in your hearing ability, make an appointment with an otologist or otolaryngologist to ensure proper treatment right from the beginning.
Good hearing is important to safeguard your quality of life as you age. The above steps can help protect and preserve your hearing ability as you age.
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