The Recovery Ability of Your Body
While some wounds take longer to heal than others, the human body usually has no issue mending cuts, scrapes, or broken bones. But when it comes to repairing the tiny little hairs in your ear, you’re out of luck. At least, so far. Animals are capable of healing damage to the cilia in their ears and get their hearing back, but humans don’t have that ability (even though scientists are working on it). That means you could have irreversible loss of hearing if you injure the hearing nerve or those little hairs.
When Is Hearing Loss Permanent?
When you learn you have loss of hearing, the first thing that most people ask is will it come back? Whether it will or not depends on a number of factors. Basically, there are two kinds of hearing loss:
- Blockage based loss of hearing: You can experience all the signs of hearing loss when there is something blocking your ear canal. Debris, earwax, and tumors are some of the things that can cause a blockage. Your hearing usually returns to normal once 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 prevalent cause. This type of hearing loss, which is often permanent, is known as sensorineural hearing loss. Here’s what takes place: When hit by moving air (sound waves), tiny little hairs in your ears move. Your brain is good at turning these vibrations into the sounds you can hear. But your hearing can, over time, be permanently damaged by loud noises. Injury to the inner ear or nerve can also cause sensorineural hearing loss. In some cases, especially in cases of severe loss of hearing, a cochlear implant might help restore hearing.
A hearing exam will help you determine whether hearing aids will help improve your hearing.
Hearing Loss Treatment
Sensorineural hearing loss currently 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:
- Preserve and protect the hearing you still have.
- Successfully deal with the symptoms of hearing loss you may be experiencing.
- Guarantee your overall quality of life remains high or is unaffected.
- Stop cognitive decline.
- Stay engaged socially, keeping isolation away.
Depending on how severe your hearing loss is, this procedure can take on many kinds. One of the most common treatments is fairly simple: hearing aids.
Why Are Hearing Aids an effective Treatment for Hearing Loss?
People who have hearing loss can use hearing aids to detect sounds and work as effectively as possible. Fatigue is the result when the brain strains to hear because hearing is hampered. As scientists acquire more insights, they have recognized an increased danger of mental decline with a continued lack of cognitive input. Your cognitive function can begin to be restored by using hearing aids because they allow your ears hear again. In fact, using hearing aids has been shown to slow cognitive decline by as much as 75%. Modern hearing aids will also help you concentrate on what you want to hear, and tune out background noises.
Prevention is The Best Defense
If you get one thing from this little lesson, hopefully, it’s this: you should safeguard the hearing you’ve got because you can’t count on recovering from hearing loss. Certainly, if you get something stuck in your ear canal, you can probably have it extracted. But that doesn’t decrease the danger from loud noises, noises you might not even consider to be loud enough to really be all that dangerous. That’s the reason why taking the time to safeguard your ears is a smart idea. The better you safeguard your hearing now, the more treatment possibilities you’ll have if and when you are eventually diagnosed with hearing loss. Recovery likely won’t be a possibility but treatment can help you keep living a great, full life. To determine what your best option is, schedule an appointment with a hearing care professional.