The Healing Capacity of Your Body
The physical body typically has the ability to recover from cuts, scratches, and broken bones, although the healing process might vary in duration depending on the damage.
Regrettably, there is no remedy for the delicate hair cells in your ears once they become damaged.
At least thus far.
Animals can repair damage to the hair cells in their ears and get their hearing back, but people don’t have that ability (although scientists are working on it).
That means you may have an irreversible loss of hearing if you damage the hearing nerve or those little hairs.
When is Hearing Loss Irreversible?
Upon identifying hearing loss, the preliminary concern that frequently arises is whether the hearing will be recovered.
It is uncertain if it will happen, as it depends on numerous elements.
Two principal forms of hearing loss:
- Obstruction-based loss of hearing: When there’s something obstructing your ear canal, you can experience all the symptoms of hearing loss.
Earwax, debris, and irregular growths can possibly obstruct the ear canal.
The good news is, your hearing normally bounces back as soon as the obstruction is cleared away. - Hearing loss due to damage: But there’s another, more prevalent type of hearing loss that makes up approximately 90 percent of hearing loss.
This distinct kind of hearing loss, referred to as sensorineural hearing loss in scientific terms, is frequently permanent.
Here’s the way it works: tiny hairs in your ear vibrate when hit with moving air (sound waves).
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.
Sensorineural hearing loss can also be triggered by injury to the inner ear or nerve.
A cochlear implant can help restore hearing in some cases of hearing loss, specifically in severe cases.
A hearing assessment can assist in determining if hearing aids would enhance your hearing ability.
Treatment of Hearing Loss
Sensorineural hearing loss currently has no cure.
But it may be possible to get effective treatment.
The following are some ways that getting the right treatment can help you:
- Preserve a good general standard of living and well-being.
- Effectively deal with any of the symptoms of hearing loss you may be experiencing.
- Preserve and safeguard the hearing you still have.
- Keep isolation away by staying socially active.
- Prevent cognitive decline.
The form of treatment you receive for your hearing loss will vary depending on the severity of the problem.
One of the most common treatment solutions is quite simple: hearing aids.
What Part do Hearing Aids Play in Managing Hearing Impairment?
Individuals who cope with hearing loss can use hearing aids to help them perceive sounds, allowing them to work as effectively as possible.
Fatigue happens when the brain has to work harder to process sound.
As scientists acquire more insights, they have recognized a greater threat of mental decline with a persistent lack of cognitive input.
Hearing aids help you recover your cognitive function by allowing your ears to hear once more.
In fact, utilizing hearing aids has been shown to slow mental decline by as much as 75%.
Contemporary 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
Preserving your hearing is crucial as once it’s lost, it’s often irretrievable. Certainly, if you get something stuck in your ear canal, you can most likely have it cleared.
However, this doesn’t reduce the danger posed by loud noises, which can be harmful even if they don’t seem overly loud to you.
That’s why making the effort to safeguard your ears is a smart plan.
The better you safeguard your hearing today, the more treatment potential you’ll have when and if you are eventually diagnosed with hearing loss.
Treatment can help you live a wonderful, full life even if a cure isn’t a possibility.
Speak with our expert audiologist to discover the most suitable solution for your specific hearing needs.