Can Ear Protection Prevent Tinnitus?

Ear protection is one of the best ways to prevent tinnitus, and you can find out why in the article below. Tinnitus is a common hearing condition caused by the destruction of tiny ear hairs when exposed to loud noises. Whether your tinnitus is mild or severe, you can treat it with earbuds.

What is Tinnitus?

Tinnitus can be described as a ringing, buzzing or humming, in your ears. Most people think that tinnitus is caused by loud noises – this is partly true – but it’s actually caused by the destruction of the tiny cilia hairs in the inner ears that help sound travel to the cochlea.

Normally the sound waves coming in from outside are amplified by the eardrum and sent to the cochlea; in the cochlea, the sound waves are transformed into electrical signals for the brain to interpret. If there are gaps in the sound waves, the brain compensates for them, causing noise.

Tinnitus Symptoms

Most people don’t notice they have tinnitus unless they are in a very quiet space, such as laying in their bed at night. At this time, someone with tinnitus might experience a quiet humming or buzz in the background. This is the brain compensating for lost signals due to losses to the cilia.

Tinnitus can range from mild to severe; in severe cases, someone with tinnitus can hear the noise in the everyday life and it affects their quality of life. In these cases, a hearing device might be required. However, tinnitus can be prevented by using appropriate ear protection.

Ear Protection and Tinnitus

Firstly, ear protection can help to prevent tinnitus by protecting the cilia in the inner ear from damage. Always wear ear protection such as earplugs or earmuffs if you work in a loud environment or you operate loud machines. But ear protection can also help with symptoms.

There are two types of tinnitus, short-term and long-term. Short-term tinnitus is usually caused by a short, loud noise like a gunshot going off; long-term tinnitus is a gradual development of the condition over years. In both cases, ear protection can reduce tinnitus and improve life quality.

Reduction of Symptoms

Tinnitus is not only an annoying sound in the background of your life, but it can also cause sleep problems that further impact your life quality, concentration issues and fatigue. Of course, many of these symptoms lead to others, too, such as anxiety, depression and mental health issues.

Ear protection is the best way to avoid tinnitus altogether, but if you have a version of the condition, you can also use earbuds – as opposed to earplugs – for relief. Earbuds fit in your ear canal and have noise-canceling capabilities. They can help to reduce the background noise.

Mild tinnitus is very common and shouldn’t impact your quality of life, but the more severe forms can. Either way, you can protect against tinnitus by wearing earplugs, earmuffs or earbuds in noisy environments. Consider some earbuds to reduce the effects of tinnitus at any stage.