Hearing Loss is More Common Than You Think But What You Should Do To Avoid It?
Hearing loss is way more common than you could imagine. In fact, more than 20 percent of millenials below 20 experience some sort of hearing loss these days. There can be many reasons for hearing loss or damage. In fact, there is sufficient evidence that as much as 53 percent of people between 20-70 experience some sort of hearing loss.
These numbers could be surprising but hearing loss is increasing drastically and certainly not just because work-place noise. There can be many contributors for a person to lose his hearing ability. Whatever the reason and however common it is, hearing loss is a serious issue and in most cases it is irreversible.
Why Hearing Loss is Serious?
Because hearing loss is permanent. Period! However, you can take advantage of the expertise of few ENT specialists and reduce the inconveniences significantly. Nothing fits prevention is better than cure as much as hearing loss fits to it.
But what you can do to avoid it? This blog discusses how you can avoid hearing loss, how to know the symptoms and take helps from the best ENT specialists out there. Read on!
How Hearing Loss Occurs?
It is a simple math! Hearing loss occurs when the ears are exposed to loud noise for an extensive period. The intense sounds can damage the auditory nerve which is responsible to carry sound signals to the brain. In humans, the damage is irreversible.
What are the reasons behind hearing loss?
There can be only two reasons (at least in majority of the cases) for hearing loss - Age and Extended hours of exposure to sounds.
Age: Like any other organ in the body, ears tend to lose their effectiveness as the person ages. Even though ageing is something that you could not avoid, you could avoid hearing loss by providing your ears the care they need from the ENT doctors.
Noise: It has become a common norm for people to listen to music through headphones or earphones for a longer time than their ears could handle. Listening to music at top volume can make hearing loss an inevitable consequence.
What are the symptoms of hearing loss?
Fortunately, hearing loss symptoms are pretty evident and immediate. Most of these symptoms are common for almost all types in loss of hearing.
- Communication becomes difficult - The first sign is, you could not follow people who are talking in their regular communicative voice. You might ask them repeat what they just said and they might tell you that you are not following them.
- Increased volume on gadgets - You might turn up the volume of your music gadget or the TV to listen it clearly.
- You might not hear the regular noise - As you are so used to the regular noises such as traffic, office and shopping complexes, it might be surprising as you could not hear them unless they are pretty loud.
Treatment depends on the type and cause for the hearing loss. You ENT specialist will conduct various diagnostic procedures such as physical examination, general screening, app-based hearing tests, and audiometer tests. Based on the results of the diagnostic procedures, the ENT specialist team that consists of ENT consultants and ENT surgeons proceed with treatment options that include surgery, hearing aids and cochlear implants.
How to Avoid Hearing Loss?
Even though hearing loss is becoming more and more common in this generation, it is imperative to be aware of the preventive measures and duly implement them in your day to day life. Here are a few tips for you to prevent hearing loss.
- Music at low levels - We all love music! But remember, you should have the hearing ability to enjoy it. Always keep your music at lowest levels possible.
- Become a quite-place enabler - Be that one person who tells people to keep their sounds low. It could be in a fully packed traffic or at an event.
- Use ear protection - If you are in a profession where your are exposed to loud noises, ensure you use proper ear protection always.
- Regular ear check-ups - Make it a practice of consulting your ENT doctor at regular intervals to clean the ears and check their functionality.
