How Your Body Rebounds From Injury and Sickness
The human body can typically repair scrapes, cuts, and fractured bones, though some injuries take longer than others.
But you’re out of luck when it concerns repairing the little hairs in your ears.
Up to this time, at least.
Animals can heal damage to the cilia in their ears and get their hearing back, but humans don’t possess that ability (although scientists are tackling it).
That means you may have an irreversible loss of hearing if you damage the hearing nerve or those tiny hairs.
At What Point Does Hearing Loss Become Permanent?
The first thing you consider when you find out you have hearing loss is whether it will come back.
Whether it will or not is dependent on a variety of things.
Two principal forms of hearing loss:
- Obstruction-based loss of hearing: When there’s something blocking your ear canal, you can experience all of the symptoms of hearing loss.
Earwax, debris, and abnormal growths can potentially block the ear canal.
The good news is, your hearing usually bounces back when the blockage is removed. - Hearing loss due to damage: But there’s another, more widespread kind of hearing loss that represents approximately 90 percent of hearing loss.
This specific form 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 move when hit with moving air (sound waves).
Your brain converts these vibrations into auditory signals that are perceived by you as sound.
But your hearing can, over time, be permanently harmed by loud noises.
Damage to the inner ear or nerve can also lead to sensorineural hearing loss.
In certain cases of severe hearing loss, a cochlear implant might have the ability to enhance hearing function.
A hearing examination can assist in determining if hearing aids would improve your ability to hear.
Solutions for Enhancing Your Hearing
There is currently no cure for sensorineural hearing loss.
But it may be possible to obtain effective treatment.
Benefits of proper treatment for your wellness:
- Preserve a good total standard of living and well-being.
- Effectively address any symptoms of hearing loss that you might be experiencing.
- Take care of your remaining hearing to avoid further damage.
- Preserve relations and community involvement to prevent feelings of loneliness and disconnection.
- Prevent cognitive decline.
This treatment can take many forms, and it’ll typically depend on how extreme your hearing loss is.
A typically recommended and rather straightforward solution is the use of hearing aids.
How is Hearing Loss Managed by Hearing Aids
Individuals experiencing hearing loss can make use of hearing aids to detect sounds which will allow them to function more effectively.
Tiredness is the result when the brain struggles to hear.
As researchers acquire more insights, they have identified a more significant danger of cognitive decline with a persistent lack of cognitive input.
Hearing aids help you recover your mental function by allowing your ears to hear again.
In fact, using hearing aids has been shown to slow cognitive 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.
Prevention is The Best Protection
Preserving your hearing is crucial as once it’s lost, it’s often irretrievable. Certainly, if you get something lodged in your ear canal, you can probably have it removed.
But that doesn’t lessen the danger posed by loud sounds that you might not think are loud enough to be all that hazardous.
So taking steps to safeguard your hearing is a good plan.
The better you safeguard your hearing now, the more treatment potential you’ll have when and if you are eventually diagnosed with hearing loss.
Getting treatment can enable you to live a fulfilling life, even if complete recovery is not achievable.
Talk with our professional audiologist to determine the most suitable solution for your unique hearing requirements.
