The Healing Capability of Your Body
While some wounds take longer to heal than others, the human body usually has no problem healing 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 recover their hearing, but humans don’t possess that ability (although scientists are working on it). That means, if you injure these hairs or the hearing nerve, you may have irreversible loss of hearing.
When Is Loss of Hearing Permanent?
The first thing you think of when you learn you have loss of hearing is, will it come back? And the response is, it depends. Fundamentally, there are two kinds of hearing loss:
- Blockage based loss of hearing: When there’s something obstructing your ear canal, you can show all the signs of hearing loss. This obstruction can be caused by a wide range of things, from debris to earwax to tumors. Your hearing usually returns to normal once the obstruction is cleared, and that’s the good news.
- Damage based loss of hearing: But about 90 percent of hearing loss is accounted for by another, more prevalent cause. This sort of hearing loss, which is usually irreversible, is known as sensorineural hearing loss. This is how it works: When hit by moving air (sound waves), tiny little hairs in your ears vibrate. 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. Sensorineural hearing loss can also be from damage to the nerve or to the inner ear. In some cases, especially in cases of severe loss of hearing, a cochlear implant may help restore hearing.
A hearing test can help you figure out whether hearing aids will help restore your hearing.
Hearing Loss Treatment
Sensorineural hearing loss presently has no cure. But that’s not to say you can’t find treatment for your loss of hearing. The following are some ways that getting the appropriate treatment can help you:
- Cope successfully with any of the symptoms of hearing loss you may be experiencing.
- Guarantee your all-around quality of life remains high or is unaffected.
- Stay engaged socially, keeping isolation at bay.
- Prevent cognitive decline.
- Preserve and protect the hearing you have left.
Based on how serious your hearing loss is, this treatment can have many kinds. One of the most basic treatments is also one of the most common: hearing aids.
Why Are Hearing Aids an effective Treatment for Hearing Loss?
People who have loss of hearing can use hearing aids to detect sounds and work as effectively as possible. When your hearing is hampered, the brain struggles to hear, which can fatigue you. As scientist acquire more insights, they have recognized an increased danger of mental decline with a persistent lack of cognitive input. By allowing your ears to hear again, hearing aids help you restore mental function. In fact, it has been shown that wearing hearing aids can slow cognitive decline by as much as 75%. Background sound can also be drowned out by contemporary hearing aids enabling you to concentrate on what you want to hear.
Prevention is The Best Protection
If you take away one thing from this little lesson, hopefully, it’s this: you should protect the hearing you’ve got because you can’t depend on recovering from loss of hearing. Sure, if you get something blocking your ear canal, you can probably have it cleared. But that doesn’t mitigate the danger from loud noises, noises you may not even think are loud enough to really be all that dangerous. That’s why taking the time to protect your ears is a good plan. If you are inevitably diagnosed with loss of hearing, you will have more treatment options if you take measures today to protect your hearing. Recovery likely won’t be an option but treatment can help you keep living a great, full life. To determine what your best choice is, make an appointment with a hearing care specialist.