The Healing Capacity of Your Body
The physical body typically has the ability to recover from cuts, scratches, and fractured bones, although the healing process might differ in duration depending on the injury.
But you’re out of luck when it comes to restoring the little hairs in your ears.
At least thus far.
Animals can repair damage to the cilia in their ears and get their hearing back, but humans don’t possess that ability (although scientists are tackling it).
If you harm the hearing nerves or the tiny hairs, you could experience permanent hearing loss.
When is Hearing Loss Irreversible?
Upon identifying hearing loss, the first worry that typically arises is whether the hearing will be restored.
Whether it will or not depends on a number of factors.
Two principal forms of hearing loss:
- Blockage-related hearing loss: If your ear canal is partly or totally obstructed, it can mimic the symptoms of hearing loss.
Earwax, debris, and irregular growths can possibly obstruct the ear canal.
Your hearing generally goes back to normal after the obstruction is eliminated, and that’s the good news. - Damage-related hearing loss: A more prevalent type of hearing loss, responsible for about 90 percent of all instances, is caused by damage rather than other variables.
This specific type of hearing loss, referred to as sensorineural hearing loss in scientific terms, is frequently irreversible.
The hearing process is activated by the impact of moving air on tiny hairs in the ear which transmit sound waves to the brain.
Your brain transforms 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 trigger sensorineural hearing loss.
A cochlear implant can help reestablish hearing in some cases of hearing loss, particularly in severe cases.
A hearing exam can assist in determining if hearing aids would improve your ability to hear.
Solutions for Enhancing Your Hearing
Sensorineural hearing loss currently has no cure.
Treatment for your hearing loss might, however, be an option.
Benefits of correct treatment for your well-being:
- Maintain a good total standard of living and well-being.
- Effectively address any symptoms of hearing loss that you may be experiencing.
- Preserve and protect the hearing you still have.
- Preserve relations and community participation to prevent feelings of loneliness and solitude.
- Prevent mental decline.
This treatment can take many forms, and it’ll typically be dependent on how extreme your hearing loss is.
A frequently encouraged and fairly straightforward solution is the use of hearing aids.
How is Hearing Loss Managed by Hearing Aids
Individuals who have hearing loss can use hearing aids to help them perceive sounds, allowing them to work as efficiently as possible.
Fatigue is the result when the brain strains to hear.
Researchers have come to realize that extended mental inactivity presents a substantial danger to mental health, as new discoveries shed light on the importance of ongoing mental stimulation.
Your cognitive function can start to be restored by utilizing hearing aids because they help your ears hear again.
Studies have shown that wearing hearing aids can dramatically slow cognitive decline, with some studies suggesting a decrease of up to 75%.
Modern hearing devices enable you to concentrate on specific sounds you want to hear while decreasing background noise.
Prevention is The Best Defence
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 count on recuperating from hearing loss. If an object becomes wedged in your ear canal, it can likely be safely removed.
But that doesn’t decrease the danger posed by loud noises that you might not believe to be loud enough to be all that harmful.
So taking steps to protect your hearing is a wise decision.
If you are ever diagnosed with hearing loss later in life, you will have more treatment options if you take measures to safeguard your hearing now.
Treatment can help you live a great, full life even if recovery isn’t possible.
Talk with our professional audiologist to discover the most practical solution for your specific hearing requirements.