What You Should Do When Struggling To Hear
If you wake up one day and find that you are struggling to hear, it can be quite alarming, but there’s no need to panic. The whole idea of experiencing hearing loss might sound like a frightening ordeal, but there’s plenty you can do to avoid it and/or treat it when the time comes! While no treatment can reverse many causes of hearing loss, there are workarounds to it, like Oticon hearing aids, that make the experience a lot easier to handle.
How to know
Hearing loss or hearing damage isn’t always completely apparent and can be easy to miss. It can be something as simple as struggling to understand someone when they’re talking to you or needing to turn your TV up a little bit louder than usual. These things are harder to notice because of all the other possible causes to them. If having difficulty understanding people is becoming more frequent, it might be time to consider seeing a professional for their opinion.
However, there are more apparent symptoms like sounds becoming muffled compared to what you’re used to. This is a sign that you should definitely see a professional as soon as you can.
These symptoms aren’t a guarantee that you’re experiencing hearing loss, as other things can cause them; either way, you should see a professional about them rather than trying to deal with it yourself.
Take Care
Hearing loss is something that you should be taking care of at all times. It’s not something that requires constant maintenance, but there are certain guidelines you should be following to ensure that you don’t damage your hearing. The most immediate risk to your earring is damaging your eardrums by having something in your ear. Some people try to deal with their earwax with cotton swabs, but that should be avoided where possible. Your eardrums are fragile, and accidentally coming into contact with it when attempting to clean your ears can cause permanent hearing damage.
Physical risks aren’t your only concern; you should also be aware that loud noises can cause hearing damage. If you work in a noisy environment with a lot of loud machinery, consider investing in some ear protection, anything that can help block out the noise!
Possible causes
You might be experiencing difficulty with hearing for many reasons, and not all of them involve permanent damage. A common reason that you might have trouble hearing out of one of your ears is a build-up of earwax, which a professional can remove for you.
Other causes may be an infection, a disease, some medications that can affect your hearing, or you may have fluid trapped in your ear. In any case, you should always see a professional about your hearing health whenever you have a concern; you should never try to deal with it yourself.
Treatments
There’s an effective solution for people who experience hearing loss to help deal with or work around the problem. Some specialists can remove earwax or other objects that might be stuck in your ear, but there are also hearing aids that can help support your hearing again.
Hearing aids aren’t something you should shy away from if you experience hearing loss, as they offer plenty of benefits that can make your life much more convenient. One of the main features that can be very useful from day to day is their Bluetooth capabilities. You can have them connect to any device that allows for Bluetooth connection to have the audio stream straight to your ears. No more struggling to hear over the phone or what’s on TV!
Who can help?
There are several professionals you can choose from when you have concerns about your hearing health. Your best bet is going to be between an Audiologist and an ENT doctor, as they specialize in that area more so than your local GP. If you’re having trouble deciding on Audiologists vs ENT doctors, click the link to learn more. It’s natural to be concerned about your hearing health, and you should see them even if you’re unsure.
Even if you don’t experience hearing loss at this moment, you should still do what you can to take care of your hearing health. Turn down the music that you listen to daily, avoid putting things in your ears, and avoid being around too many loud noises without protection. Hearing damage doesn’t always show straight away, so you may already be damaging your hearing without being aware.