Hearing allows us to enjoy music, experience the sounds of nature or take in the words spoken by those around us. Our hearing is also pivotal when it comes to our safety and spatial orientation.
However, most people don't adequately protect their hearing and instead adopt habits that can put it at risk. Often, people are not aware of the damage they are causing. With this in mind, Connect Hearing has generated a list of easy yet helpful tips to help you protect your hearing health and stay safe and connected.
Avoid exposure to excessive noise
Noise is one of the most common causes of hearing loss. It can hit you anywhere: In traffic, at your workplace and even in your free time.
Below are some preventative measures you can take to protect yourself:
- Use hearing protection at noisy workplaces such as factories or construction sites
- Avoid spending long periods of time in noisy places indoors
- When attending shows and parties, stay away from the speakers
- Avoid listening to loud music for long periods of time – When it comes to speakers, a volume of less than 80 decibels would be ideal; If you are listening to music at 80-85 decibels or more, you shouldn’t do so for longer than 8 hours.
Avoid using headphones for prolonged periods of time
Excessive use of headphones at a loud volume may permanently damage your hearing and cause tinnitus, headaches and irritability. This is because your headphones produce high-intensity sound waves inside your ear that are too much for the hearing cells responsible for sound absorption.
This overload can cause injuries that in turn impair your hearing. he following protective measures to prevent problems resulting from the use of such devices:
- If possible, use headphones that cover your ears – These headphones offer better noise-cancelling abilities, allowing you to listen to music at a lower volume.
- Don’t exceed a volume of 60 Decibels.
Clean your ears correctly
Despite the fact that cleaning one’s ears with cotton swabs is regarded as a healthy habit, their use can actually cause some serious problems with your hearing.
Earwax is responsible for protecting and lubricating your ear canal and prevents water, dirt and foreign objects from entering, which is why it should not be removed from the ear canal.
Moreover, cotton swabs can cause injuries during insertion that can potentially result in infections, ear drum perforation and hearing loss.
For these reasons, the best way to clean one’s ear is to only clean the outside of the ear. Never insert any materials into your ear canal as your body is capable of discharging the wax inside by itself. If your ear still requires cleaning, consult your physician or audiologist to have them clean it or remove excess wax from your ear.
Visit your audiologist regularly
At first, patients usually don't notice they are losing their hearing since the process is a slow and quiet one. Because of this, many people wait too long before they start doing something about their hearing loss.
In many cases, hearing loss – detected early on – can be treated to help significantly improve the patient’s quality of life and general health which is why it’s crucial to consult an audiologist once every year.
Besides checking for hearing issues, your hearing care professional can examine your ears’ general health and diagnose potential allergies or infections as well as other types of structural injuries.
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Call 1.888.780.5358 or visit worldofhearing.ca to book your appointment. Lyric™ is also fit at select Connect Hearing locations! Visit connecthearing.ca to find a location near you.
Legal Disclaimer: VAC, WCB, WSIB, WorkSafeBC, ADP & ODSP accepted. *Hearing evaluations/tests are free for customers over the age of 18. Fees may apply where specific testing for employment purposes, reports, a copy of your results or the completion of an application is required. See clinic for full details. **Lyric™ is water resistant, not waterproof. Therefore, underwater swimming and diving are not recommended. However, Lyric can be worn in the shower or during water activities in which the head is not fully submerged under water. †$125 per ear fee waived for 30-day trial. Some conditions apply. See clinic for full details.
