The Healing Ability of Your Body
The human body usually has the ability to recuperate from cuts, scrapes, and fractured bones, although the recovery process might differ in duration depending on the damage.
But you’re out of luck when it comes to repairing the little hairs in your ears.
At least thus far.
Animals can repair damage to the hair cells in their ears and get their hearing back, but humans don’t have that ability (although scientists are working on it).
If you harm the hearing nerves or the little hairs, you could experience permanent hearing loss.
At What Point Does Hearing Loss Become Irreversible?
The initial thing you consider when you discover you have hearing loss is whether it can come back.
Whether it will or not depends on a variety of things.
There are a couple of basic types of hearing loss:
- Obstruction-based loss of hearing: When there’s something blocking your ear canal, you can experience all the symptoms of hearing loss.
Earwax, debris, and irregular growths can potentially obstruct the ear canal.
The good news is, your hearing usually bounces back once the obstruction is removed. - Hearing loss due to damage: But there’s another, more widespread kind of hearing loss that represents about 90 percent of hearing loss.
This distinct kind of hearing loss, known as sensorineural hearing loss in scientific terms, is usually permanent.
The hearing process is triggered by the impact of moving air on tiny hairs in the ear which transmit sound waves to the brain.
Your brain converts these vibrations into auditory signals that are heard by you as sound.
But your hearing can, over time, be permanently harmed by loud noises.
Injury to the inner ear or nerve can also cause sensorineural hearing loss.
A cochlear implant can help reestablish hearing in some cases of hearing loss, particularly in severe cases.
A hearing exam will help you determine whether hearing aids will help enhance your hearing.
Solutions for Enhancing Your Hearing
Sensorineural hearing loss presently can’t be cured.
Treatment for your hearing loss might, however, be a possibility.
Benefits of correct treatment for your well-being:
- Maintain a good overall standard of living and well-being.
- Successfully address any symptoms of hearing loss that you may be encountering.
- Take care of your remaining hearing to avoid additional damage.
- Maintain relations and community involvement to avoid feelings of isolation and disconnection.
- Prevent mental degeneration.
This treatment can take many forms, and it’ll normally depend on how severe your hearing loss is.
One of the most prevalent treatment solutions is quite simple: hearing aids.
How is Hearing Loss Treated by Hearing Aids
People who cope with hearing loss can use hearing aids to help them perceive sounds, allowing them to work as effectively as possible.
Tiredness occurs when the brain has to work harder to process sound.
Researchers have come to realize that extended mental inactivity poses a significant risk to mental health, as new discoveries shed light on the importance of continuous mental stimulation.
Hearing aids help you recover your mental function by allowing your ears to hear again.
As a matter of fact, using hearing aids has been shown to slow mental decline by as much as 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 should protect the hearing you have because you can’t depend on recovering from hearing loss. If an object becomes lodged in your ear canal, it can usually be safely removed.
However, this doesn’t lessen the risk posed by loud sounds, which can be harmful even if they don’t seem excessively loud to you.
That’s why making the effort to safeguard your ears is a smart plan.
The better you protect your hearing today, the more treatment potential you’ll have when and if you are inevitably diagnosed with hearing loss.
Getting treatment can enable you to live a fulfilling life, even if complete recovery is not achievable.
Speak with our expert audiologist to determine the most practical solution for your specific hearing needs.