How Does Ear Protection Preserve Your Hearing?

Many of us take our hearing for granted when it should be viewed as a very valuable commodity. It is essential for everybody to take extra care of their hearing because it is very easy to cause irreversible damage to the ears. If you do have hearing loss, preserving your hearing is especially crucial as you don’t want to lose your ability to communicate effectively with people. Many people don’t notice the subtle decline at first as our brain helps us to fill in the gaps. However, you should start taking note of how your hearing feels every day so you can look after it for the long haul.

Risk areas

Hearing is very susceptible to damage, even when you least expect it. During everyday activities or your job, you could be exposing your ears to damaging noise levels. Minimizing damage whenever possible is important when it comes to preserving your hearing, so here are some of the risk areas you need to be aware of.

• Gunshots and fireworks
• Airplane taking off
• Pop concert
• Loud music in headphones
• Hairdryer

Some of these everyday activities encroach levels of noise that are often considered to be dangerous to your hearing. Whatever level of hearing you have right now, you need to do whatever you can to preserve it for the future.

Sound at home

There are many ways to manage the sound environment in your home. Make sure you are aware of how loud mowing the lawn and drying your hair can be. Optimize your house to absorb sound using carpets, curtains and other soft furnishings. Be wary when undertaking DIY projects with power tools and gardening jobs with leaf blowers and chainsaws too. Wear earplugs or defenders whenever you need to.

Sound at work

There is a risk that your job is affecting your hearing at work, but your employer should know about this. Taking action to preserve your hearing at work is very important. For hearing protection to be effective, you need to wear it 100% of the time. Your ear protection should also be comfortable and well fitting, whether you’re wearing ear defenders or ear plugs. Check yourself in with an audiologist and make sure you aren’t already suffering from hearing loss too. You might want to take extra precautions if you are already suffering.

Every day ear care

Make sure you never poke or prod your ear canals with your fingers or cotton buds. Book an annual hearing appointment with an audiologist so that they can keep track of your ear health and monitor any hearing loss. Take note of any noticeable changes to your hearing including tinnitus symptoms or hearing loss.

Luckily, there is a wide range of hearing protection equipment available to suit your work or home needs. Good quality ear plugs and ear defenders will help you to preserve your hearing for years to come.

If you think you could benefit from ear protection, then get in touch with an audiologist today. With their specialist experience and advice, they will be able to provide you with the best options to suit your needs.