How Your Body Rebounds From Injury and Sickness
The human body can usually repair scrapes, cuts, and broken bones, although some injuries take longer than others.
But you’re out of luck when it comes to restoring the little hairs in your ears.
Up to this time, at least.
Animals can heal damage to the hair cells in their ears and get their hearing back, but humans don’t possess that ability (although scientists are working on it).
That means you might have a permanent loss of hearing if you damage the hearing nerve or those little hairs.
When is Hearing Loss Permanent?
The initial thing you think of when you discover you have hearing loss is whether it will return.
It is uncertain if it will happen, as it is dependent on numerous variables.
Two primary forms of hearing loss:
- Obstruction-based hearing loss: When there’s something blocking your ear canal, you can experience all the symptoms of hearing loss.
Earwax, debris, and abnormal growths can potentially obstruct the ear canal.
Your hearing typically goes back to normal after the blockage is eliminated, and that’s the good news. - Damage-related hearing loss: A more prevalent form of hearing loss, responsible for about 90 percent of all instances, is caused by damage rather than other factors.
This distinct kind of hearing loss, referred to as sensorineural hearing loss in scientific terms, is typically permanent.
Here’s how it works: tiny hairs in your ear vibrate when hit with moving air (sound waves).
Your brain transforms these vibrations into auditory signals that are perceived by you 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 trigger sensorineural hearing loss.
A cochlear implant can help bring back hearing in some instances of hearing loss, especially in severe cases.
A hearing assessment can help in determining if hearing aids would enhance your hearing ability.
Treatment of Hearing Loss
There is presently no cure for sensorineural hearing loss.
Treatment for your hearing loss might, however, be an option.
The following are some ways that getting the correct treatment can help you:
- Make sure your overall quality of life is unaltered or remains high.
- Effectively deal with any of the symptoms of hearing loss you may be dealing with.
- Preserve and safeguard the hearing you still have.
- Maintain connections and community participation to avoid feelings of loneliness and solitude.
- Stop cognitive decline.
This treatment can take many forms, and it’ll generally depend on how extreme your hearing loss is.
One of the most prevalent treatment solutions is quite simple: hearing aids.
What Part do Hearing Aids Play in Managing Hearing Loss?
People who cope with hearing loss can use hearing aids to help them perceive sounds, allowing them to work as efficiently as possible.
Fatigue is the result when the brain strains to hear.
Scientists have come to recognize that extended mental inactivity poses a substantial risk to cognitive health, as new findings clarify the importance of continuous mental stimulation.
Your mental function can begin to be restored by utilizing hearing aids because they let your ears hear again.
In fact, using hearing aids has been shown to slow down mental decline by as much as 75%.
Modern hearing aids will also allow you to focus on what you want to hear while tuning out background sounds.
The Best Defense is Prevention
Maintaining your hearing is essential as once it’s gone, it’s often irretrievable. If an object becomes lodged in your ear canal, it can usually be safely cleared out.
But that doesn’t decrease the danger posed by loud sounds that you might not think are loud enough to be all that hazardous.
That’s why making the effort to protect your ears is a good idea.
If you are ever diagnosed with hearing loss later in life, you will have more treatment possibilities if you take steps to protect your hearing now.
Treatment can help you live a wonderful, full life even if recovery isn’t a possibility.
To identify what your best choice is, make an appointment with our hearing care professionals.