Hearing Health Should be on Your Resolutions List

We all love waving goodbye at the year that has gone by, while looking forward to the brand new year by making new promises and resolutions. We think about ways to improve our physical health, our communication skills, and even our jobs, but seldom do we take a moment to include hearing health as part of our new year’s resolutions.

44 million people in America currently suffer from some type of hearing loss. This makes hearing loss the third most prevalent health condition in the country. In spite of that, most of us take our hearing for granted and only worry about it when we actually have a significant degree of hearing damage.

The problem with hearing loss is that unlike eyesight which can easily be corrected using eye glasses or contact lenses, your hearing cannot be restored to its normal level once it is gone. Hearing loss is irreversible, and as such it makes taking care of our ears that much more important. Make sure you include a few resolutions that cater towards taking good care of your auditory health this year.

Think about adding an annual hearing examination if you are above the age of 50. This is about when hearing loss tends to show up, and gradually worsens over time. Apart from a hearing test, you can also benefit from a yearly clean up to clean out your ears and remove excessive earwax that may cause temporary hearing loss.

Another important resolution to add to your list is to protect your ears to prevent hearing damage. We cannot control the amount of noise we live in, but we can control how that noise impacts our hearing. Use auditory protective gear such as earplugs or earmuffs before exposing yourself to loud noises such as concerts, sporting events, or other noisy recreational or professional activities.

When it comes to protecting your ears, it would also be wise to invest in a pair of noise cancelling headphones to listen to music at more mellow volumes while eliminating background noise. You can also use over the head headphones instead of inside the ear earbuds, since the latter blasts music directly into your ear canal, which can cause hearing damage over time.

Our hearing deteriorates with time without any external help. Let’s slow down the process by taking good care of our ears to help prevent any unnecessary causes for hearing loss. Hearing loss is forever, so make sure you take steps to protect yourself from hearing damage before it is too late.