The Healing Ability of Your Body
The physical body generally has the ability to recover from cuts, scratches, and broken bones, although the healing process could differ in duration depending on the injury.
But you’re out of luck when it comes to repairing the little hairs in your ears.
At least so far.
Animals can heal damage to the cilia in their ears and get their hearing back, but people don’t have that ability (though scientists are tackling it).
If you damage the hearing nerves or the little hairs, you could experience permanent hearing loss.
At What Point Does Hearing Loss Become Permanent?
The initial thing you think about when you find out you have hearing loss is whether it can return.
It is unclear if it will happen, as it is dependent on various variables.
There are two fundamental kinds of hearing loss:
- Blockage-related hearing impairment: If your ear canal is partially or entirely obstructed, it can mimic the symptoms of hearing loss.
Earwax, debris, and irregular growths can potentially obstruct the ear canal.
The good news is, your hearing usually recovers as soon as the blockage is removed. - Hearing loss due to damage: But there’s another, more widespread type of hearing loss that accounts for around 90 percent of hearing loss.
This particular type of hearing loss, referred to as sensorineural hearing loss in scientific terms, is frequently permanent.
The hearing process is activated by the impact of moving air on tiny hairs in the ear which send sound waves to the brain.
Your brain transforms these vibrations into auditory signals that are heard by you as sound.
But your hearing can, over time, be permanently harmed by loud noises.
Sensorineural hearing loss can also be triggered by injury to the inner ear or nerve.
A cochlear implant can help bring back hearing in some cases of hearing loss, specifically in extreme cases.
A hearing test can assist in determining if hearing aids would enhance your hearing ability.
Solutions for Enhancing Your Hearing
Sensorineural hearing loss presently can’t be cured.
But it might be possible to get effective treatment.
Benefits of proper treatment for your well-being:
- Ensure your overall quality of life is unaffected or remains high.
- Effectively address any symptoms of hearing loss that you may be experiencing.
- Preserve and protect the hearing you still have.
- Keep solitude away by staying socially engaged.
- Prevent cognitive decline.
The form of treatment you receive for your hearing loss will differ depending on the extent of the problem.
A frequently recommended and fairly straightforward strategy is the use of hearing aids.
How is Hearing Loss Managed by Hearing Aids
People who have hearing loss can use hearing aids to help them perceive sounds, allowing them to work as efficiently as they can.
Tiredness happens when the brain has to work overtime to process sound.
Scientists have come to realize that prolonged mental inactivity poses a significant danger to mental health, as new discoveries clarify the value of continuous mental stimulation.
Hearing aids help you restore your cognitive function by allowing your ears to hear again.
Studies have shown that wearing hearing aids can significantly slow cognitive decline, with some studies indicating a decrease of up to 75%.
Contemporary hearing aids will also allow you to focus on what you want to hear while tuning out background sounds.
Prevention is The Best Protection
Maintaining your hearing is essential because once it’s gone, it’s often permanent. Certainly, if you get something stuck in your ear canal, you can probably have it cleared.
But that doesn’t lessen the danger posed by loud noises that you might not believe to be loud enough to be all that harmful.
That’s why making the effort to protect your ears is a good idea.
If you are ever diagnosed with hearing loss in the future, you will have more treatment options if you take measures to protect your hearing today.
Receiving treatment can enable you to live a fulfilling life, even if complete recovery is not achievable.
To determine what your best option is, schedule an appointment with our hearing care professionals.