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Hearing loss at a glance

If you feel you need to turn up the volume of your TV or radio relative to the people around you or are having trouble understanding words clearly, when there is another background noise, you could be among the millions with a significant loss of audio. hearing.

Hearing appears to decrease in many people due to aging, but it goes unnoticed. Repeated exposure to loud noises over many years is known to affect hearing. Short bursts of loud noise usually only cause temporary hearing loss, ringing or ringing in the ear that resolves spontaneously. You may not even be aware of how you withdraw from noisy conversations or environments due to the inability to distinguish between similar words like “boy” or “toy”. It creates a lot of frustration when you keep asking people to repeat themselves. You may actually miss some details of the conversation which lead to confusion and misunderstanding.

Recent research has suggested a connection between hearing loss and dementia. Impaired hearing contributes to the confusion and isolation of the hearing impaired person. However, it is incorrect to assume that hearing loss causes dementia.

Hearing is a complex function that requires a mechanical component in the middle ear to translate sound wave impulses into a digital form ultimately transmitted to the brain where sound is perceived and interpreted into a coherent message. The cochlea is the center for conversion into a digital signal that allows the nerves to transmit to the brain. This wonderful device works all the time without vacation or rest. It is vulnerable to overuse especially with regular exposure to loud noise. Some compare the effects of loud noise to walking on grass. Walking on grass from time to time demonstrates resilience. With too much traffic, it can be severely damaged.

Workplace standards for protection from exposure to loud noise have been outlined by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). Any noisy work environment should perform basic and periodic worker hearing tests to ensure hearing retention.

At the heart of this is the “prevention” of hearing loss. The same goes for exposure to loud noise in the home or in recreational settings. Medium density formable foam earplugs are common, cheap and suitable for most people providing adequate protection. Proper fit and consistent use in a high-noise environment is extremely important to avoid permanent hearing loss and preserve hearing. Once impaired, hearing function is usually permanently impaired.

The good news is that you can easily protect your ears so the rest of your life will sound better.

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