Your resolution to hit the gym every day may have fallen through, but your commitment to improving your hearing health doesn’t have to! Even if you haven’t yet taken steps to be proactive in your hearing health, there is plenty of time left in 2020 to start.
Below are some tips for getting started on your journey to healthier hearing.
Wear Hearing Protection
According to OSHA, any sound over 85 dB, about the volume of highway traffic, can cause permanent hearing loss. Many people’s jobs, hobbies and even household chores expose them to sounds much louder than this.
Today’s Hearing offers custom hearing protection specially designed for whatever noisy environments you may find yourself in. From the jobsite to concert halls and the shooting range, high-fidelity custom earplugs allow you to hear important sounds at safe levels while blocking out noises that can cause damage to your hearing.
Get a Hearing Test
Untreated hearing loss is associated with imbalance/falls, social withdrawal, depression and even cognitive decline. To prevent or delay these and other comorbidities, it’s important to diagnose hearing loss as early as possible. The sooner you seek treatment for your hearing loss, the better your outcomes will be.
Even if you don’t suspect hearing loss just yet, a baseline hearing exam is a very important tool to help monitor changes to your hearing over time. This is especially important if hearing loss runs in your family or you are regularly exposed to loud noises. Audiologists recommend a baseline hearing exam around age 20.
Quit Smoking
The risks of smoking are generally well-known, but it may be surprising to learn that there is a link between smoking and hearing loss. Toxins in cigarettes can affect the middle ear and the stereocilia – the tiny hair cells that convert soundwaves to electrical energy for the brain to interpret as sound – in the inner ear. In addition, carcinogens damage the auditory processing nerves in the brain, and lack of oxygen can have devastating effects on the auditory system as a whole.
For more information about hearing loss or to schedule an appointment for a hearing test/custom hearing protection, call Today’s Hearing!