Many people think that wearing hearing aids is an inevitable part of growing older. While it IS true that many seniors need hearing aids to be able to hear well, there are LOTS of hearing loss cases that can actually be prevented. In fact, if you treat your hearing right during your younger years, it’s often possible to maintain healthy hearing long into your golden years.
5 Healthy Hearing Habits That Start at Home
While there are certainly things you can do at work or school to protect your hearing, a foundation of healthy hearing habits starts right in your own house. Here are 5 things you can do NOW to protect your hearing for the present AND the future.
1. Cut down on your exposure to loud noise.
You might consider listening to a baby cry as loud noise, but how loud is too loud when it comes to your hearing? According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, repeated or prolonged exposure to sounds over 85 decibels can lead to hearing loss. So, while that doesn’t mean your crying baby will cause you to lose some of your hearing, other everyday activities COULD.
Here are some common sounds you might be regularly exposed to that qualify as ‘too loud’:
- Lawn mowers and power tools: 90 dB
- MP3 players at full volume: 100 dB
- Concerts or sporting events: 110 dB
- Fireworks or gunshots: 140 dB
Whether you’re regularly exposed to sounds like these or only on occasion, protect your healthy hearing by wearing appropriate hearing protection.
2. Eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly.
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can help you in all sorts of ways, from lowering your risk for disease to helping with weight management. But eating the right foods and following a regular exercise regimen can improve blood flow and circulation. That includes the blood flow to your ears, which in turn affects hearing.
3. Keep your ears clean.
It will probably come as no surprise that dirt, debris, or even an earwax buildup can affect your hearing. Keeping your ears clean can help you maintain healthy hearing, but be aware of the RIGHT way to clean them.
Avoid the temptation to use Q-tips for regular ear cleaning. Instead, just let a little water into your ears when you shower and tilt your head to let it drain back out. For most people, this simple act encourages earwax and other debris to move out of their ears naturally. If you’re an excessive earwax producer or you’re prone to earwax buildups, schedule professional earwax removal with your local audiologist to safely and effectively remove blockages.
4. Get your hearing tested regularly.
Even if you have healthy hearing, it’s important to schedule routine hearing check-ups. When your hearing is healthy, your doctor can establish a hearing baseline. Then, with future hearing tests, it’ll be easy to spot hearing changes quickly. The sooner hearing loss is identified and treated, the better the outcome will be. And if there’s something in your environment or daily activities that’s causing hearing loss, you’ll have a chance to rectify the situation before your hearing loss becomes worse.
5. Establish quiet zones at home to promote healthy hearing.
Create a family culture where loud noise inside your home simply isn’t acceptable. When background noise is kept to a minimum, it’s easy to watch TV or listen to music at a lower volume. This simple idea can keep family members from listening to devices at unsafe levels just because they need to hear over other noise.
Maintain Healthy Hearing with Our Mesa and Scottsdale Audiologists
There’s no question that our Mesa and Scottsdale audiologists are well-equipped to treat hearing loss. This includes helping people find the best hearing aids or other devices to improve their hearing. But there’s one thing we like even better … helping people PREVENT hearing loss in the first place!
Schedule an appointment with us today. Whether you need a routine hearing test, want to explore custom hearing protection options, or need help managing existing hearing loss, we’re here for you every step of the way! Together, we can ensure you and your family can enjoy healthy hearing for years to come.
