The Healing Capability of Your Body
The human body commonly can heal scrapes, cuts, and broken bones, even though some wounds take longer than others. But you’re out of luck when it comes to fixing the tiny little hairs in your ears. So far, at least. Though scientists are working on it, humans don’t repair the cilia in their ears like animals can. That means you may have irreversible hearing loss if you damage the hearing nerve or those little hairs.
When Is Loss of Hearing Irreversible?
When you learn you have loss of hearing, the first thing that most people ask is will I get it back? Whether it will or not depends on several factors. There are two fundamental types of loss of hearing:
- Obstruction based loss of hearing: When there’s something blocking your ear canal, you can show all the signs of hearing loss. This obstruction can be caused by a wide range of things, from debris to earwax to tumors. Your hearing normally returns to normal after the obstruction is cleared, and that’s the good news.
- Damage based loss of hearing: But there’s another, more common type of hearing loss that makes up nearly 90 percent of hearing loss. Known clinically as sensorineural hearing loss, this form of hearing loss is often permanent. Here’s what takes place: there are little hairs in your ear that vibrate when hit by moving air (sound waves). These vibrations are then changed, by your brain, into signals that you hear as sound. But your hearing can, as time passes, be permanently damaged by loud noises. Sensorineural hearing loss can also be caused by damage to the nerve or to the inner ear. A cochlear implant can help improve hearing in some cases of hearing loss, specifically extreme cases.
Whether hearing aids will help improve your hearing can only be determined by getting a hearing examination.
Treatment of Hearing Loss
Sensorineural hearing loss presently has no cure. But it might be possible to get treatment for your hearing loss. The following are some ways that getting the correct treatment can help you:
- Successfully deal with any of the symptoms of hearing loss you might be experiencing.
- Keep isolation at bay by staying socially engaged.
- Preserve and protect the hearing you still have.
- Guarantee your general quality of life remains high or is unaffected.
- Prevent mental decline.
Based on how severe your hearing loss is, this procedure can take on many kinds. One of the simplest treatments is also one of the most common: hearing aids.
How is Hearing Loss Treated by Hearing Aids
People with loss of hearing can use hearing aids to detect sounds and work as efficiently as they can. When your hearing is hindered, the brain struggles to hear, which can fatigue you. As time passes the lack of sensory input has been connected with an increased danger of cognitive decline. Your cognitive function can start to be restored by using hearing aids because they let your ears hear again. In fact, using hearing aids has been shown to slow cognitive decline by as much as 75%. Modern day hearing aids will also allow you to pay attention to what you want to hear, and drown out background sounds.
Prevention is The Best Defense
Hopefully, if you take one thing away from this knowledge, it this: you can’t depend on recovering from hearing loss, so instead you should focus on protecting the hearing you’ve got. Certainly, if you have something stuck in your ear canal, more than likely you can have it extracted. But lots of loud noises are hazardous even though you may not think they are very loud. That’s why it’s not a bad idea to take the time to protect your ears. The better you safeguard your hearing today, the more treatment possibilities you’ll have when and if you are eventually diagnosed with hearing loss. Recovery likely won’t be an option but treatment can help you keep living a great, full life. To find out what your best option is, schedule an appointment with a hearing care professional.