Your Body’s Ability to Recover
While some wounds take longer to heal than others, the human body usually has no problem mending cuts, scrapes, or broken bones. But you’re out of luck when it comes to fixing the tiny little hairs in your ears. So far, at least. Though scientists are working on it, humans don’t heal the cilia in their ears in the same way animals can. What that means is, if you injure these hairs or the hearing nerve, you may have permanent loss of hearing.
At What Point Does Hearing Loss Become Permanent?
When you learn you have loss of hearing, the first thing that most people think is will I get it back? And the response is, it depends. There are two basic types of hearing loss:
- Loss of hearing caused by an obstruction: You can show all the signs of hearing loss when there is something blocking your ear canal. This blockage can be caused by a wide variety of things, from earwax to debris to tumors. Your hearing usually returns to normal after the blockage is cleared, and that’s the good news.
- Damage based loss of hearing: But around 90 percent of hearing loss is accounted for by another, more common cause. Known clinically as sensorineural hearing loss, this kind of hearing loss is usually permanent. Here’s what happens: When hit by moving air (sound waves), tiny little hairs in your ears vibrate. These vibrations are then changed, by your brain, into impulses that you hear as sound. But loud sounds can damage the hairs and, over time, permanently diminish your hearing. Sensorineural hearing loss can also be from injury to the nerve or to the inner ear. In certain cases, specifically in instances of extreme loss of hearing, a cochlear implant could help improve hearing.
Whether hearing aids will help improve your hearing can only be determined by having a hearing exam.
Treatment of Hearing Loss
Sensorineural hearing loss presently has no cure. But it might be possible to get treatment for your loss of hearing. The following are some ways that getting the correct treatment can help you:
- Keep isolation away by staying socially engaged.
- Make sure your general quality of life remains high or is unaffected.
- Cope successfully with any of the symptoms of hearing loss you may be suffering from.
- Protect and preserve the hearing you have left.
- Stop mental decline.
Based on how serious your loss of hearing is, this procedure can have many kinds. One of the most common treatment options is fairly simple: hearing aids.
How is Hearing Loss Treated by Hearing Aids
People with loss of hearing can use hearing aids to perceive sounds and work as efficiently as they can. When your hearing is hampered, the brain struggles to hear, which can fatigue you. As scientist acquire more knowledge, they have recognized a greater chance of mental decline with a continued lack of cognitive input. By allowing your ears to hear again, hearing aids assist the restoration of cognitive performance. as a matter of fact, it has been demonstrated that using hearing aids can slow cognitive decline by as much as 75%. Contemporary hearing aids can also help you focus on what you want to hear, and drown out background noises.
The Best Defense Is Prevention
Hopefully, if you get one thing from this knowledge, it this: you can’t depend on recovering from loss of hearing, so instead you should concentrate on protecting the hearing you have. Sure, if you get something blocking your ear canal, more than likely you can have it removed. But that doesn’t mitigate the danger from loud sounds, noises you might not even think are loud enough to be all that dangerous. That’s the reason why making the effort to safeguard your ears is a smart plan. If you are inevitably diagnosed with hearing loss, you will have more treatment possibilities if you take steps now to safeguard your hearing. Recovery won’t likely be an option but treatment can help you keep living a great, full life. Contact a hearing care professional to decide what your best choice is.