The human body is a wonderful, breathtaking, confusing, confounding construction, isn’t it? The human body generally has no difficulty mending cuts, scratches, or broken bones (with a little time, your body can restore the giant bones in your arms and legs).
But you won’t be so lucky if the fragile hairs in your ears are damaged. For now at least.
It’s truly regrettable that your body can pull off such fantastic feats of healing but can’t regenerate these tiny hairs. So what’s the deal?
When is Hearing Impairment Permanent?
So let’s take a closer look. You’re at your doctor’s office attempting to digest the news he’s giving you: you’re losing your hearing. So you ask your doctor if your hearing will ever return. And he tells you that it may or may not.
It’s a little anticlimactic, speaking dramatically.
But it’s also the truth. Hearing loss comes in two general forms:
- Hearing impairment caused by a blockage: You can show every indicator of hearing loss when your ear has some sort of obstruction. This blockage can be caused by a wide variety of things, from the gross (ear wax) to the downright scary (tumors). The good news is that once the blockage is cleared, your hearing often goes back to normal.
- Hearing loss caused by damage: But hearing loss has another more common form. This kind of hearing loss, called sensorineural hearing loss, is permanent. Here’s what happens: inside of your ear, there are tiny hairs that vibrate when struck by sound waves. When vibrations are converted into signals, they are sent to the brain which makes them into the sounds you perceive. But over time, loud sounds can cause these hairs to be damaged to the point where treatment is needed.
So here’s the main point: you can recover from one type of hearing loss and you probably won’t know which one you have without having a hearing test.
Treating Hearing Loss
So currently there’s no “cure” for sensorineural hearing loss (though scientists are working on it). But that’s not to say you can’t get treatment for your hearing loss. In fact, getting the proper treatment for your hearing loss might help you:
- Successfully manage hearing loss symptoms you might already have.
- Stay active socially, keeping isolation at bay.
- Reduce cognitive decline.
- Safeguard and maintain your remaining hearing.
- Make sure your overall quality of life is unaffected or stays high.
This treatment can take various forms, and it’ll normally depend on how significant your hearing loss is. Hearing aids are one of the simplest and most prevalent treatment options.
Why is Hearing Loss Successfully Managed With Hearing AIds?
You can get back to the people and things you love with the help of hearing aids. With the help of hearing aids, you can start to hear conversations, your tv, your phone, and sounds of nature once again. You won’t be straining to hear so pressure will be removed from your brain.
Prevention is The Best Protection
Whether you have hearing loss now or not, you need to protect your hearing from loud sounds and other things that can harm your hearing (like ototoxic drugs). Your overall health and well being depend on good hearing. Regular hearing care, such as annual hearing exams, is just another type of self-care.
