What is the Best Form of Hearing Protection?

Hearing health is just as important as maintaining a consistent fitness routine, attending checkups with the doctor and sticking to a balanced diet. However, many people often do not think about hearing health or hearing protection. Usually, this is because there is not as much education regarding hearing damage and hearing loss compared to other aspects of your health.

But, if you regularly expose yourself to loud noises at work or when using your headphones, you increase your risk of experiencing hearing loss. If you want to know how to prevent hearing loss later in life, you need to know the best form of hearing protection.

Ear defenders

If you work on a construction site or a concert venue, you are exposed to potentially damaging noise levels more regularly than the average person. While you may not realize it, these noise levels will have an impact on your hearing health later in life, so ear defenders will act as the first line of defense against hearing damage and hearing loss, even if you are close to the source of the sound.

Earplugs

Even if you don’t work on construction sites or at venues, earplugs are a useful way to protect your ears in a variety of environments. Perhaps you love watching live music. Earplugs enable you to enjoy the music without the risk of severely damaging your hearing. This does not merely apply to live music, though. Any scenario you find yourself in with excess decibel levels can be improved by wearing earplugs.

Turning the volume down

Whether you’re listening to music while working or immersing yourself in a movie or video game with headphones or earphones, having the volume too loud will cause your hearing to deteriorate. Just because you can raise the volume to the maximum and block out any outside noise doesn’t mean you need to.

Isolated headphone volume over 85 decibels is considered dangerous to your hearing, and you can comfortably hear sound between 60 and 85dB. Even if you don’t use headphones, you should still avoid raising the TV volume higher than 85dB to ensure excellent hearing health.

Allowing your ears to recover

Just like your muscles and joints after exercise, you need to give your ears the chance to recover after being exposed to loud noises, especially if you do not wear anything to protect your ears. After attending a concert, you may wake up the next day with your ears ringing. This is your body telling you that you need to give your ears a break. Failing to do this can harm your ears and also impacts your overall experience and enjoyment of the concert.

Regular checkups

Regular checkups with your hearing specialist will help you protect your ears from irreparable damage. Your specialist can inspect your hearing and carry out tests, which enables them to diagnose any problems you may face. They can also offer advice that you can use to protect your ears in your day-to-day life or prescribe hearing aids – either permanent or temporary – for any hearing loss you are experiencing.

Contact our office for more information

Are you looking for hearing protection? Our professionals at New Hartford Hearing Center are happy to walk you through the best products for your needs. Give us a call today at (315) 801-2991.