New Year's Resolutions: For Hearing Health

Have you made your New Year’s resolution yet?  Before you ring in the new year, consider these solutions for your hearing health.

1. Protect Your Hearing Health

One out of three people living in the U.S. experience noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). Damaged sensory cells (hair cells) located in the inner ear (cochlea), lead to NIHL. Exposure to loud noise causes permanent damage to the hair cells and they are eventually destroyed. Hair cells cannot regrow after they die. Noise can harm your hearing if it is too loud and if you are exposed to it for an extensive period of time. Here are three ways to protect your hearing health:

• Move away from the sound source. 
• Lower the volume to your personal listening device, car stereo, radio, TV, speakers, or surround system. 
• Wear protection for your hearing. This can include earplugs or earmuffs.          

2. Stop Smoking

Smokers are nearly two times more likely to experience hearing loss than non-smokers. If you are a non-smoker who lives with a smoker, you are also more likely to develop hearing loss. Smoking affects a person’s hearing when the nicotine and carbon monoxide found in cigarettes restrict the amount of blood flow, which prevents the circulation of oxygen to your inner ear. Insufficient blood flow could lead to lasting damage to your ear's sensory cells  

3. Regular Exercise

Your overall health is vital to healthy hearing. Engaging in regular exercises can reduce the risks of chronic illnesses and additional risks to your hearing. Anyone who is overweight is more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. Those with diabetes are two times more likely to experience hearing loss. Being overweight makes the heart work harder to sufficiently circulate blood to the rest of the body. This includes the ears. High blood glucose levels can lead to damaged blood vessels in the inner ear. 

4. Get a Hearing Test

Getting a hearing test is the first step to identifying whether you have hearing loss. Just like any health concern, getting your hearing loss treated early can improve your overall quality of life. This includes:

• Feelings of optimism and engaging in daily life. People who use hearing aids are more prone to have a strong and supportive social network. 
• Reducing cognitive decline. The brain becomes more stimulated when you can hear and effectively communicate with others. Dementia is five times more likely to occur when hearing loss goes untreated. Hearing aids have been proven to significantly lower the risks of cognitive decline. 
• Lower the risks of falling. Those with untreated hearing loss are three times more likely to fall. Hearing aids have been shown to reduce vertigo. Irregularities in the inner ear can cause the sensation of floating or other false sensations of motion.
• An impact on your income. Individuals with hearing loss could lose up to $30,000 of their income each year due to poor work performance related to their hearing loss and the lack of proper accommodations. Using hearing aids and having adequate accommodations can lower the risks of losing more income. 
  
  Make your New Year resolutions to prioritize your hearing health by contacting us at Pure Sound Hearing for a free hearing test and consultation. ​

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