Your Body’s Capacity to Heal
While some injuries take longer to heal than others, the human body usually has no problem mending cuts, scrapes, or broken bones. But when it comes to fixing the tiny little hairs in your ear, you’re out of luck. At least, so far. Animals are able to heal damage to the cilia in their ears and recover their hearing, but humans don’t possess that ability (even though scientists are working on it). That means you might have permanent loss of hearing if you damage the hearing nerve or those little hairs.
When Is Hearing Loss Irreversible?
The first question you think of when you find out you have loss of hearing is, will it come back? Whether it will or not depends on many things. There are two fundamental kinds of loss of hearing:
- Hearing loss caused by damage: But nearly 90 percent of hearing loss is accounted for by another, more prevalent cause. This type of hearing loss, which is often irreversible, is known as sensorineural hearing loss. This is how it works: there are tiny hairs in your ear that vibrate when hit by moving air (sound waves). Your brain is good at turning these vibrations into the sounds you can hear. But loud sounds can cause damage to the hairs and, over time, permanently diminish your hearing. Injury to the inner ear or nerve can also cause sensorineural hearing loss. In certain cases, especially in instances of extreme hearing loss, a cochlear implant could help improve hearing.
- Hearing loss caused by an obstruction: When there’s something obstructing your ear canal, you can experience all the signs of hearing loss. Debris, earwax, and tumors are some of the things that can cause a blockage. Your hearing usually returns to normal after the obstruction is cleared, and that’s the good news.
A hearing test will help you determine whether hearing aids will help restore your hearing.
Hearing Loss Treatment
So presently there’s no cure for sensorineural hearing loss. But it may be possible to get treatment for your hearing loss. The following are some ways that getting the appropriate treatment can help you:
- Ensure your overall quality of life is unaffected or remains high.
- Cope successfully with the symptoms of hearing loss you might be suffering from.
- Stay engaged socially, keeping isolation away.
- Protect and preserve the hearing you still have.
- Stop mental decline.
This approach can take many forms, and it’ll usually depend on how severe your hearing loss is. One of the most basic treatments is also one of the most common: hearing aids.
How is Hearing Loss Treated by Hearing Aids
People who have loss of hearing can use hearing aids to detect sounds and work as effectively as they can. Fatigue is the result when the brain strains to hear because hearing is hampered. As scientist acquire more knowledge, they have identified an increased danger of mental decline with a continued lack of cognitive input. Your cognitive function can begin to be restored by using hearing aids because they let your ears hear again. as a matter of fact, it has been demonstrated that using hearing aids can slow cognitive decline by as much as 75%. Background sound can also be drowned out by modern hearing aids letting you concentrate on what you want to hear.
The Best Defense Is Prevention
Hopefully, if you get one thing from this information, it this: you should protect the hearing you have because you can’t depend on recovering from hearing loss. Certainly, you can have any obstruction in your ear removed. But that doesn’t decrease the threat from loud noises, noises you might not even think are loud enough to be all that dangerous. That’s why it’s not a bad strategy to take the time to protect your ears. The better you protect 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 a possibility but treatment can help you continue living a great, full life. Contact a hearing care expert to find out what your best option is.