Hearing Loss

Now I know what you are thinking, "how does this apply to me? I am still young, so I have nothing to worry about". Well, what if I told you that it has a lot to do with your young age. While you cannot completely eliminate the chances of hearing loss due to genetics and other factors, you can reduce the chances or intensity of hearing loss by simply taking care of your ears.

Noise Induced Hearing Loss

About 60% of teens and college age students listen to auditory stimuli such as music, television, or movies at decibels that can cause hearing loss or damage over a long period of time due to constant exposure. Loss of hearing or damage occurs when the hairs in the inner ear are damaged due to loud noises. Once these hairs are damaged, they cannot grow back. 

Conductive Hearing Loss

This occurs when sound is unable to travel to the cochlea due to unnatural issues occurring in the middle ear. This unnatural issue could be a blockage or damage to the organelles in the middle ear. This can be a temporary circumstance such as a ruptured eardrum or an ear infection. 

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

When damage occurs to the cochlea, auditory nerve, or auditory cortex you may experience sensorineural hearing loss. The intensity of this can be put on a spectrum from mild to profound. This can happen due to noise, medication, or other factors. This can occur at birth, while rare, it is still possible. 

Tinnitus

When an individual hears sounds such as a ringing or a pure high-pitched tone when no sound is physically present in their environment, it can be a sign of tinnitus. This is linked to noise induced hearing loss and can cause damage to organelles in your ear such as the cochlea and auditory nerves. You have most likely heard ringing in your ears from time to time. This is normal and safe to experience. But it can be seen as an issue when it is persistent and ongoing ringing. 

Hearing Assistance

When you experience hearing loss or damage, you are often offered assistance to help with your hearing. While hearing loss such as noise induced hearing loss cannot be completely cured due to the loss of hairs in the inner ear (because they cannot grow back as previously stated), you can use assistance devices to help aid in your hearing. One of the more popular aids would be a hearing aid or cochlear implants. While there are many different types of hearing aids and cochlear implants, the main key differences between the two are cochlear implants are mostly used for individuals who have severe hearing loss as they stimulate the auditory nerve. Hearing aids are more for moderate to mild cases of hearing loss and result in amplifying sound to make hearing easier. Cochlear implants are typically located under the skin while hearing aids are typically worn around the outside of the ear or inside of the outer ear (not under the skin).

Hearing Loss Prevention

Our ears are a sensitive part of our body containing organs vital for listening to our surroundings and environment. It is important that we take care of our ears to help preserve them and their hearing abilities as best as we can. If you do the forefront work while you are young, you can protect your ears from damage and hearing loss in your older years. 

A Few Healthy Hearing Tips to Practice Daily to Avoid Hearing Loss or Damage:

• Use ear protection devices such as earplugs or noise cancelling headphones created for loud noises
• Consider seeing an audiologist and staying up to date on appointments to ensure optimal ear health
• Check the side effects for the current medications you are currently taking. Some medications such as antibiotics and chemotherapy drugs can cause hearing loss
• Try to avoid areas with high decibels. This looks like avoiding areas containing 100 decibels for 15 minutes or more, or 110 decibels for one minute or more.