How Your Body Bounces Back From Injury and Sickness
The physical body can generally heal scrapes, cuts, and broken bones, though some injuries take longer than others.
But you’re out of luck when it concerns repairing the tiny little hairs in your ears.
At least thus far.
Animals can heal damage to the hair cells in their ears and get their hearing back, but people don’t possess that ability (although scientists are working on it).
If you harm the hearing nerves or the little hairs, you could experience irreversible hearing loss.
When is Hearing Loss Irreversible?
The first thing you think of when you find out you have hearing loss is whether it can return.
Whether it will or not is dependent on a number of factors.
Two primary types 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.
Debris, earwax, and growths are some of the things that can cause a blockage.
The good news is, your hearing generally bounces back once the blockage is removed. - Hearing loss due to damage: But there’s another, more widespread type of hearing loss that accounts for about 90 percent of hearing loss.
Clinically known as sensorineural hearing loss, this type of hearing loss is usually irreversible.
Here’s how it works: tiny hairs in your ear move when struck with moving air (sound waves).
These vibrations are then modified, by your brain, into signals that you hear as sound.
Prolonged exposure to loud noises can, however, lead to permanent damage to your hearing.
Damage to the inner ear or nerve can also trigger sensorineural hearing loss.
In certain cases of extreme hearing loss, a cochlear implant may have the ability to improve hearing function.
A hearing exam can assist in determining if hearing aids would enhance your ability to hear.
Treatment of Hearing Loss
Sensorineural hearing loss currently has no cure.
But it may be possible to get effective treatment.
Advantages of proper treatment for your wellness:
- Ensure your overall quality of life is unaltered or remains high.
- Effectively manage any symptoms of hearing loss that you might be experiencing.
- Preserve and protect the hearing you still have.
- Keep solitude away by remaining socially engaged.
- Stop cognitive decline.
The form of treatment you receive for your hearing loss will differ depending on the severity of the issue.
One of the most common treatment solutions is fairly simple: hearing aids.
What Part do Hearing Aids Play in Managing Hearing Loss?
Individuals who have hearing loss can use hearing aids to help them perceive sounds, allowing them to work as efficiently as possible.
Tiredness happens when the brain needs to work harder to process sound.
As scientists acquire more insights, they have identified a greater threat of cognitive decline with a persistent lack of cognitive input.
Hearing aids help you restore your cognitive function by allowing your ears to hear once more.
Research has revealed that wearing hearing aids can significantly slow cognitive decline, with some research suggesting a decrease of up to 75%.
Modern hearing aids will also allow you to pay attention to what you want to hear while tuning out background sounds.
The Best Defense is Prevention
If you take away one thing from this little lesson, hopefully, it’s this: you need to protect the hearing you have because you can’t depend on recuperating from hearing loss. Certainly, if you get something lodged in your ear canal, you can most likely have it cleared.
But that doesn’t reduce the danger posed by loud sounds that you might not think are loud enough to be all that hazardous.
That’s why making the effort to protect your ears is a smart idea.
If you are ever diagnosed with hearing loss in the future, you will have more treatment possibilities if you take measures to protect your hearing now.
Getting treatment can enable you to live a fulfilling life, even if total recovery is not achievable.
Consult with our expert audiologist to determine the most practical solution for your unique hearing requirements.