The Recovery Capability of Your Body
While some wounds take longer to heal than others, the human body usually has no problem healing cuts, scrapes, or broken bones. But you’re out of luck when it comes to repairing the tiny little hairs in your ears. At least, so far. Though scientists are working on it, humans can’t repair the cilia in their ears in the same way animals can. That means, if you injure these hairs or the hearing nerve, you could have permanent hearing loss.
When Is Hearing Loss Permanent?
The first question you think of when you find out you have hearing loss is, will it come back? And the answer is, it depends. Fundamentally, there are two kinds of hearing loss:
- Blockage based loss of hearing: You can show all the signs of hearing loss when there is something obstructing your ear canal. This blockage can be caused by a wide variety of things, from earwax to debris to tumors. What’s promising is that after the blockage is cleared your hearing often goes back to normal.
- Loss of hearing caused by damage: But there’s another, more prevalent type of hearing loss that accounts for around 90 percent of hearing loss. This sort of hearing loss, which is usually irreversible, is known as sensorineural hearing loss. Here’s what happens: When hit by moving air (sound waves), tiny little hairs in your ears move. Your brain is good at turning these vibrations into the sounds you can hear. But your hearing can, over time, be permanently harmed by loud noises. Injury to the inner ear or nerve can also cause sensorineural hearing loss. In certain cases, particularly in instances of extreme hearing loss, a cochlear implant could help restore hearing.
A hearing exam will help you determine whether hearing aids will help improve your hearing.
Treatment of Hearing Loss
Sensorineural hearing loss presently has no cure. But it might be possible to get treatment for your loss of hearing. The following are some ways that getting the appropriate treatment can help you:
- Keep isolation at bay by staying socially engaged.
- Guarantee your all-around quality of life is unaffected or remains high.
- Stop cognitive decline.
- Cope successfully with any of the symptoms of hearing loss you might be experiencing.
- Protect and preserve the hearing you still have.
This treatment can take many forms, and it’ll normally depend on how extreme your hearing loss is. One of the most common treatments is pretty simple: hearing aids.
Why Are Hearing Aids an effective Treatment for Hearing Loss?
People with hearing loss can use hearing aids to detect sounds and perform as effectively as possible. When your hearing is hampered, the brain struggles to hear, which can exhaust you. As scientist gain more insights, they have identified a greater risk of mental decline with a persistent lack of cognitive input. By letting your ears to hear again, hearing aids assist the restoration of mental performance. In fact, it has been demonstrated that using hearing aids can slow cognitive decline by as much as 75%. Modern day hearing aids will also allow you to focus on what you want to hear, and drown out background noises.
Prevention is The Best Defense
Hopefully, if you take one thing away from this knowledge, it this: you should protect the hearing you have because you can’t count on recovering from loss of hearing. Certainly, you can have any blockages in your ear removed. But many loud noises are harmful even though you might not think they are that loud. That’s why it’s not a bad strategy to take the time to protect your ears. The better you protect your hearing now, the more treatment possibilities you’ll have if and when you are eventually diagnosed with loss of hearing. Recovery likely won’t be a possibility but treatment can help you keep living a great, full life. Make an appointment with a hearing care expert to find out what your best option is.