How Your Body Rebounds From Injury and Illness
The human body can normally repair scratches, cuts, and broken bones, though some injuries take longer than others.
But you’re out of luck when it pertains to repairing the little hairs in your ears.
At least so far.
Animals can repair damage to the cilia in their ears and get their hearing back, but humans don’t have that ability (although scientists are tackling it).
That means you might have a permanent loss of hearing if you damage the hearing nerve or those tiny hairs.
At What Point Does Hearing Loss Become Irreversible?
The initial thing you consider when you learn you have hearing loss is whether it will return.
Whether it will or not depends on a variety of things.
Two principal kinds of hearing loss:
- Blockage-related hearing impairment: If your ear canal is partly or entirely obstructed, it can mimic the symptoms of hearing loss.
Earwax, debris, and irregular growths can possibly block the ear canal.
The good news is, your hearing typically bounces back as soon as the obstruction is cleared away. - Hearing loss caused by damage: But there’s another, more prevalent kind of hearing loss that accounts for around 90 percent of hearing loss.
This distinct kind of hearing loss, known as sensorineural hearing loss in scientific terms, is typically irreversible.
Here’s how it works: tiny hairs in your ear vibrate when hit with moving air (sound waves).
These vibrations are then transformed, by your brain, into signals that you hear as sound.
Prolonged exposure to loud noises can, however, lead to permanent damage to your hearing.
Injury to the inner ear or nerve can also lead to sensorineural hearing loss.
A cochlear implant can help bring back hearing in some instances of hearing loss, especially in severe cases.
A hearing test will help you identify whether hearing aids will help strengthen your hearing.
Treatment of Hearing Loss
Sensorineural hearing loss presently can’t be cured.
Treatment for your hearing loss might, however, be an option.
Advantages of correct treatment for your wellness:
- Make sure your overall quality of life is unaffected or remains high.
- Effectively address any symptoms of hearing loss that you may be encountering.
- Protect your remaining hearing to stop added damage.
- Keep solitude away by staying socially active.
- Prevent mental degeneration.
This treatment can take many forms, and it’ll usually depend on how extreme your hearing loss is.
A frequently recommended and rather straightforward solution is the use of hearing aids.
How is Hearing Loss Managed by Hearing Aids
Individuals who have hearing loss can use hearing aids to help them perceive sounds, allowing them to work as efficiently as possible.
Fatigue occurs when the brain needs to work overtime to process sound.
Researchers have come to realize that prolonged mental inactivity poses a considerable danger to mental health, as new discoveries shed light on the importance of continuous mental stimulation.
Hearing aids help you restore your cognitive function by allowing your ears to hear once more.
In fact, using hearing aids has been shown to slow mental decline by as much as 75%.
Contemporary hearing aids will also allow you to pay attention to what you want to hear while tuning out background sounds.
The Best Defense is Prevention
Maintaining your hearing is crucial because once it’s gone, it’s often permanent. Certainly, if you get something stuck in your ear canal, you can probably have it cleared.
However, this doesn’t diminish the risk posed by loud sounds, which can be damaging even if they don’t seem overly loud to you.
That’s why making the effort to safeguard your ears is a smart idea.
If you are ever diagnosed with hearing loss in the future, you will have more treatment possibilities if you take steps to protect your hearing now.
Receiving treatment can allow you to live a fulfilling life, even if total recovery is not achievable.
Speak with our professional audiologist to determine the most suitable solution for your unique hearing requirements.