Time to Read: 5 minutes
Here’s cheers for your ears! We look at the reasons why you need to protect your ears and your hearing.
Unlike your other senses, your ears are always ‘on’. Sound is going into your ears whether you want it to or not. And if that noise is explosively loud (or moderately loud over an extended period) you risk permanent hearing loss.
But there are things you can do to protect your hearing and it is important to make them a lifelong habit - you are never too young or too old to start.
Dial back the volume
It’s not just one-off, very loud sounds which can damage your hearing. Moderately loud sounds over an extended period of time can damage the hair cells that help transmit sound to your brain.
Less is more. If someone is wearing headphones and you can hear music leaking out, then it is too loud.
Ideally keep volume levels to around 60 and 85 decibels to reduce the opportunity for damaging exposure. 60dB is about the volume of normal conversation. 80dB is roughly the volume of an alarm clock. The louder you have the volume, the less time you should be listening. Restrict your time to no more than 15 minutes if the volume is around 100 decibels.
Read more:
- Noise hurts your hearing even if you can't hear it
- The colour of noise
- The problem with noise needs to be out in the open
- Can hearing aids stop background noise
- Can hearing aids cause further hearing loss?
Earplugs are very useful
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Building and construction sites, along with workplaces with noisy equipment, all require workers to use ear protection. But did you know that many musicians wear ear plugs even at their own concerts?
In fact, there are specific ear plugs made for musicians that attenuate the noise without distorting sound. Famous musicians who are open about their ear plug use are: Eric Clapton, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Sting, and Paul Stanley from Kiss.
It certainly raises the question, if professional musicians are taking steps to protect their ears, shouldn’t you do the same when you go to their concerts?
Also, noisy places like race tracks or airports are venues where ear plugs may be helpful.
Some people even use ear plugs to block out even softer sounds that are still loud enough to interrupt a good night’s sleep.
Read more:
- Famous people who wear hearing aids
- Update to famous people with hearing loss
- Occupations at greatest risk of hearing loss
Cotton buds are bad
While they’re convenient, they’re also bad for your ears. Digging out earwax with cotton buds risks compacting wax further into your ear canal or worse, actually rupturing your eardrum.
There are much better ways to clean your ears that are safer and more effective.
Read more:
- Ear candling - the wrong way to deal with ear wax
- Safely deal with earwax at home
- Ear wax friend or foe
- Ear wax
Keep your ears dry
There are few things more annoying than your ears being full of water after a shower or going for a swim or a surf. Even worse than that, you might also risk ear infections which may permanently damage your hearing.
After you've used a soft towel to dry your outer ear, other methods for getting rid of water include:
- gently tugging your earlobe downwards
- lay on your side for a few minutes
- yawn or move your jaw.
Read more:
Take care of your health
High blood pressure, being stressed and anxious, poor health and being unfit put a strain on your ears, especially those little hair cells inside the cochlear that transmits sound to your brain.
Foods that are high in vitamins and minerals
Steps you take to keep your body fit and healthy, both inside and out, will pay dividends on your hearing health for years to come.
Also, only take medications as directed. Some medicines can impact hearing as one of its side effects. We recommend that you regularly review your medication list with your doctor and discuss any concerns you have
More reading:
- Hearing Health and Exercise
- Health issues that may affect your hearing
- Food, Your Ears and Good Hearing
- Hearing loss and anxiety
- Hearing and stress
- Maintaining Health and Well-Being
- Ototoxicity and hearing loss
Get your hearing checked
You get your eyes checked regularly and you get your teeth checked, so why not add a hearing check to your regular list of health check-ups? The sooner hearing loss is addressed, the sooner you can enjoy your best optimised hearing.
Given that 70% of people over 70 have some degree of hearing loss, you are certainly not alone.
And there are many excellent reasons why you should address hearing loss which we cover in the articles below.
More reading:
- Do you have selective hearing?
- The Ear Hears, the Brain Listens
- Hearing Loss and the aging brain
- Why achieving better hearing through hearing aids can help prevent dementia
- How hearing loss affects memory and thinking
- Brain training and hearing
- Hearing Loss: use it or lose it
- Hearing loss and memory loss
