The Healing Capability of Your Body
While some wounds take longer to heal than others, the human body generally has no issue mending cuts, scrapes, or broken bones. But when it comes to repairing the tiny little hairs in your ear, you’re out of luck. So far, at least. Animals are able to heal damage to the cilia in their ears and recover their hearing, but humans don’t possess that ability (though scientists are working on it). That means you could have permanent hearing loss if you damage the hearing nerve or those little hairs.
When Is Hearing Loss Irreversible?
When you learn you have hearing loss, the first thing that most people ask is will I get it back? And the response is, it depends. There are two fundamental kinds of loss of hearing:
- Hearing loss caused by damage: But there’s another, more widespread type of hearing loss that accounts for around 90 percent of hearing loss. This kind of hearing loss, which is usually permanent, is known as sensorineural hearing loss. Here’s how it works: there are little hairs in your ear that vibrate when hit with moving air (sound waves). These vibrations are then changed, by your brain, into impulses that you hear as sound. But loud noises can cause damage to the hairs and, over time, permanently diminish your hearing. Damage to the inner ear or nerve can also cause sensorineural hearing loss. In certain cases, especially in cases of extreme loss of hearing, a cochlear implant may help restore hearing.
- Obstruction based hearing loss: When there’s something obstructing your ear canal, you can exhibit all the signs of hearing loss. This obstruction can be caused by a wide range of things, from earwax to debris to tumors. Your hearing generally returns to normal after the blockage is cleared, and that’s the good news.
A hearing examination can help you figure out whether hearing aids will help restore your hearing.
Treatment of Hearing Loss
Sensorineural hearing loss currently has no cure. But it might be possible to get treatment for your hearing loss. The following are some ways that getting the appropriate treatment can help you:
- Stay involved socially, keeping isolation at bay.
- Prevent cognitive decline.
- Make sure your general quality of life remains high or is unaffected.
- Cope successfully with the symptoms of hearing loss you might be suffering from.
- Protect and preserve the hearing you have left.
Based on how extreme your hearing loss is, this procedure can have many kinds. One of the most basic treatments is also one of the most common: hearing aids.
Why Are Hearing Aids a Good Treatment for Hearing Loss?
Hearing aids assist the ear with hearing loss to pick up sounds and perform to the best of their ability. Fatigue is the result when the brain strains to hear because hearing is hindered. As scientist gain more knowledge, they have recognized an increased danger of cognitive decline with a continued lack of cognitive input. By allowing your ears to hear again, hearing aids help you restore mental performance. In fact, using hearing aids has been shown to slow cognitive decline by as much as 75%. Background sound can also be tuned out by modern-day hearing aids enabling you to concentrate on what you want to hear.
The Best Protection Is Prevention
If you take away one thing from this little lesson, hopefully, it’s this: you should safeguard the hearing you have because you can’t count on recovering from hearing loss. Sure, if you get something stuck in your ear canal, more than likely you can have it cleared. But that doesn’t decrease the danger from loud sounds, noises you may not even think are loud enough to really be all that dangerous. That’s the reason why taking the time to protect your ears is a smart idea. The better you protect your hearing today, the more treatment possibilities you’ll have when and if you are eventually diagnosed with loss of hearing. Treatment can help you live a great, full life even if recovery isn’t a possibility. Contact a hearing care professional to decide what your best choice is.