Hearing allows us to enjoy music, experience the sounds of nature or take in the words spoken by our friends and loved ones. Our hearing is also pivotal when it comes to our safety and spatial orientation. However, most people don't adequately protect their hearing and instead adopt habits that can put it at risk. Often people are not aware of the damage they are causing. Check out Connect Hearing’s four easy and simple ways you can better prioritize your hearing health!

1. Avoid exposure to excessive noise.

Noise is one of the most common causes of hearing loss. It can hit you anywhere: In traffic, at your work place and even in your free time. Take the following preventative measures to protect yourself.

• Use hearing protection at noisy workplaces, such as factories or construction sites.
• Avoid spending long periods of time in noisy places indoors.
• When attending shows and parties, stay away from the speakers.
• Avoid listening to loud music for long periods of time. When it comes to speakers, a volume of less than 80 decibels would be ideal. If you are listening to music at 80-85 decibels or more, you shouldn’t do so for longer than 8 hours.

2. Avoid using headphones for prolonged periods of time.

Excessive use of headphones at a loud volume may permanently damage your hearing and cause tinnitus, headaches and irritability. This is due to the fact that your headphones produce high intensity sound waves inside your ear that are too much for the hearing cells responsible for sound absorption. This overload can cause injuries that in turn impair your hearing. Take the following protective measures to prevent problems resulting from the use of such devices.

• If possible, use headphones that cover your ears. This type of headphones has better noise cancelling abilities, allowing you to listen to music at a lower volume.
• Don’t exceed a volume of 60 decibels.

3. Clean your ears correctly.

Despite the fact that cleaning one’s ears with Q-Tips is regarded as a healthy habit, their use can actually cause some serious problems with your hearing. Earwax is responsible for protecting and lubricating your ear canal and prevents water, dirt and foreign objects from entering. This is why it must not be removed from the ear canal.

Moreover, Q-Tips can cause injuries during insertion that can result in infections, ear drum perforation and hearing loss. 

For these reasons, the best way to clean one’s ear is to only clean the outside of the ear. Never insert any materials into your ear canal since your body is capable of discharging the wax inside by itself. If your ear still requires cleaning, consult your physician or audiologist to have them clean it or remove excess wax from your ear.

4. Visit your hearing care professional regularly.

At first, patients usually don't notice that they are losing their hearing since the process is a slow and quiet one. Because of this, many people wait too long before they start doing something about their hearing loss.

In many cases, hearing loss – detected early on – can be treated well and the patient’s quality of life and general health can be significantly improved. This is why it’s important you consult a hearing care professional once every year.

Besides checking for hearing issues, your hearing care professional can examine your ears’ general health and diagnose possible allergies or infections as well as other types of structural injuries.

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