Preventing hearing loss is the best way to keep your hearing healthy. Any damage caused now will stay with you for the rest of your life and will only get worse if not addressed.
Thankfully, there are ways to prevent this and ensure your hearing stays in tip-top shape. As you know, hearing is the cornerstone of communication.
Even though we have the experience to treat hearing loss, there is still no cure for it. As the saying goes, “Prevention is better than cure.”
How Does Hearing Loss Develop?
Most patients develop a hearing loss over a long period of time. It can progress gradually, which is why people are able to adapt to it and learn to live with bad hearing.
Another way of developing a hearing loss is when the loss is noise-induced. This could be a one-time event or consistent exposure to loud noise over a prolonged period of time.
We define a loud noise as anything over 85 decibels. A normal conversation ranges anywhere between 60dBA and 70dBA for reference.
Many occupations are responsible for noise-induced hearing loss. Factory workers, mechanics, and military personnel are all at a high risk of experiencing a hearing loss in their lives.
It’s recommended to wear personalized hearing plugs or custom fit earplugs if you work in any of these industries or similar.
Hobbies are guilty of causing hearing loss too. Musicians and gun enthusiasts should always be wearing specific hearing protection. This means molded earplugs for musicians and custom ear protection for shooting.
Hearing loss can also occur from a singular exposure to a loud noise. An explosion, such as a firework, can cause irreparable damage to your ears if you are too close to it. Ringing in your ears after attending a concert is a sure sign of damage to the inner hair cells in your ears.
The ringing may go away on its own, but this one time occurrence could have caused permanent damage to your hearing.
Why Prevention Is So Important
Hearing loss is irreversible. There is no cure for it. Having said that, our experience and knowledge of technology makes it possible to manage it so patients can live a fulfilling life.
Still to this day, our best weapon against hearing loss is prevention.
Taking the necessary steps while your hearing is healthy is the only way to prevent hearing loss from developing.
Custom fit earplugs and filters are the first and only line of defense against noise-induced hearing loss. We don’t want you to stop enjoying the things you love, but we do want you to have healthy hearing for your entire life.
How You Can Protect Yourself
At Alaska Hearing & Tinnitus Center, we have years of experience treating patients whose careers and hobbies revolve around loud noises. This great state affords us opportunities that so many others in the lower 48 never get the chance to do.
That is still no reason to neglect your hearing. Here are some of the ways we are helping Alaskans protect their hearing so they can enjoy all aspects of life.
- Custom-molded protection for shooting and hunting
- Custom ear protection for using lawn and garden tools, chainsaws, motorcycles, and snowmobiles
- Custom ear protection for use with construction and industrial equipment
- Custom-molded earplugs for concerts and sporting events
- Custom earbuds for musicians and for listening to music through your personal player
What To Do If You Need Professionally Fitted Earplugs
If you work or enjoy any of these activities, then it will be well worth it for you to get your own set of custom fit ear protection. They don’t take long to get used to and after a short while, you won’t even notice you’re wearing them.
If you have more questions about protecting your hearing, you can give us a call and we’d be happy to help you. We also have more information on custom ear protection here.
Don’t wait until it’s too late. Take the steps now to protect your hearing so it stays with you throughout your life.
