The Healing Ability of Your Body
The human body usually can heal scratches, cuts, and broken bones, even though some wounds take longer than others. But when it comes to repairing the tiny little hairs in your ear, you’re out of luck. So far, at least. Even though scientists are working on it, humans don’t repair the cilia in their ears in the same way animals can. That means you may have irreversible hearing loss if you damage the hearing nerve or those little hairs.
When Is Hearing Loss Permanent?
The first question you think of when you learn you have loss of hearing is, will it come back? Whether it will or not depends on several factors. Fundamentally, there are two types of hearing loss:
- Blockage based loss of hearing: You can exhibit all the signs of hearing loss when there is something obstructing your ear canal. This blockage can be caused by a wide variety of things, from debris to earwax to tumors. What’s promising is that after the blockage is cleared your hearing often goes back to normal.
- Damage based loss of hearing: But there’s another, more common kind of hearing loss that accounts for nearly 90 percent of hearing loss. Known technically as sensorineural hearing loss, this form of hearing loss is often irreversible. This is how it works: there are little hairs in your ear that vibrate when hit by moving air (sound waves). Your brain is good at changing these vibrations into the sounds you hear. But your hearing can, as time passes, be permanently damaged by loud noises. Injury to the inner ear or nerve can also cause sensorineural hearing loss. A cochlear implant may help restore hearing in some cases of hearing loss, specifically severe cases.
Whether hearing aids will help restore your hearing can only be determined by getting a hearing exam.
Hearing Loss Treatment
So presently there’s no cure for sensorineural hearing loss. But that’s not to say you can’t get treatment for your loss of hearing. The following are some ways that getting the correct treatment can help you:
- Protect and preserve the hearing you still have.
- Stop cognitive decline.
- Guarantee your overall quality of life is unaffected or remains high.
- Stay involved socially, keeping isolation away.
- Successfully deal with any of the symptoms of hearing loss you might be suffering from.
Depending on how extreme your loss of hearing is, this treatment can take on many kinds. One of the most common treatments is pretty simple: hearing aids.
How is Hearing Loss Treated by Hearing Aids
People who have hearing loss can use hearing aids to detect sounds and work as efficiently as they can. Fatigue is caused when the brain strains to hear because hearing is hampered. Over time the lack of sensory input has been connected with a greater chance of cognitive decline. By letting your ears to hear again, hearing aids help you restore mental function. As a matter of fact, using hearing aids has been shown to slow cognitive decline by as much as 75%. Background noise can also be drowned out by modern-day hearing aids allowing you to focus on what you want to hear.
The Best Protection Is Prevention
Hopefully, if you take one thing away from this information, it this: you should safeguard the hearing you’ve got because you can’t depend on recovering from hearing loss. Certainly, you can have any obstruction in your ear removed. But many loud noises are hazardous even though you might not think they are very loud. That’s the reason why taking the time to protect your ears is a good idea. If you are eventually diagnosed with loss of hearing, you will have more treatment options if you take measures today to protect your hearing. Recovery won’t likely be an option but treatment can help you continue living a great, full life. To determine what your best option is, make an appointment with a hearing care professional.