The Recovery Ability of Your Body
The human body generally can heal scratches, cuts, and broken bones, although some injuries take longer than others. But when it comes to fixing the tiny little hairs in your ear, you’re out of luck. At least, so far. Animals are able to heal damage to the cilia in their ears and get their hearing back, but humans don’t possess that ability (though scientists are working on it). What that means is, if you damage these hairs or the hearing nerve, you may have irreversible loss of hearing.
When Is Hearing Loss Permanent?
The first thing you think of when you find out you have loss of hearing is, will I get it back? Whether it will or not depends on many things. There are two basic kinds of hearing loss:
- Loss of hearing caused by damage: But around 90 percent of hearing loss is accounted for by another, more prevalent cause. Known clinically as sensorineural hearing loss, this type of hearing loss is often permanent. Here’s what takes place: there are tiny hairs in your ear that move when hit by moving air (sound waves). These vibrations are then turned, by your brain, into signals that you hear as sound. But loud sounds can cause damage to the hairs and, over time, permanently diminish your hearing. Injury to the inner ear or nerve can also cause sensorineural hearing loss. A cochlear implant may help improve hearing in some cases of hearing loss, especially severe cases.
- Blockage based hearing loss: When there’s something blocking your ear canal, you can experience all the signs of hearing loss. Debris, earwax, and tumors are some of the things that can cause an obstruction. Your hearing usually returns to normal after the blockage is cleared, and that’s the good news.
Whether hearing aids will help improve your hearing can only be determined by getting a hearing examination.
Hearing Loss Treatment
Sensorineural hearing loss currently has no cure. But that’s doesn’t mean you can’t find treatment for your hearing loss. The following are some ways that getting the appropriate treatment can help you:
- Keep isolation at bay by staying socially engaged.
- Cope successfully with any of the symptoms of hearing loss you may be suffering from.
- Preserve and protect the hearing you still have.
- Prevent mental decline.
- Make sure your overall quality of life is unaffected or remains high.
Depending on how severe your hearing loss is, this treatment can have many kinds. One of the simplest treatments is also one of the most common: hearing aids.
How is Hearing Loss Treated by Hearing Aids
People who have loss of hearing can use hearing aids to detect sounds and perform as efficiently as possible. When your hearing is hampered, the brain struggles to hear, which can fatigue you. As scientist gain more knowledge, they have recognized a greater chance of cognitive decline with a continued lack of cognitive input. By allowing your ears to hear again, hearing aids assist the restoration of cognitive function. As a matter of fact, wearing hearing aids has been demonstrated to slow cognitive decline by as much as 75%. Contemporary hearing aids can also help you concentrate on what you want to hear, and tune out background sounds.
Prevention is The Best Protection
Hopefully, if you take one thing away from this knowledge, it this: you should protect the hearing you’ve got because you can’t depend on recovering from hearing loss. Sure, if you have something stuck in your ear canal, you can probably have it removed. But that doesn’t decrease the risk from loud noises, noises you may not even consider to be loud enough to really be all that dangerous. That’s why it’s not a bad strategy to take the time to safeguard your ears. The better you safeguard your hearing now, the more treatment options you’ll have if and when you are eventually diagnosed with hearing loss. Recovery likely won’t be an option but treatment can help you continue living a great, full life. To find out what your best choice is, make an appointment with a hearing care specialist.