Your Body’s Ability to Heal

While some wounds take longer to heal than others, the human body normally has no problem healing cuts, scrapes, or broken bones. But when it comes to repairing 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 get their hearing back, but humans don’t have that ability (although scientists are working on it). That means you could have permanent hearing loss if you damage the hearing nerve or those little hairs.

At What Point Does Loss of Hearing Become Irreversible?

The first thing you think of when you find out you have loss of hearing is, will it come back? Whether it will or not depends on several things. There are two fundamental kinds of hearing loss:

• Damage based loss of hearing: But there’s another, more widespread type of hearing loss that accounts for nearly 90 percent of hearing loss. Known technically as sensorineural hearing loss, this form of hearing loss is usually irreversible. Here’s how it works: there are tiny hairs in your ear that vibrate when hit by moving air (sound waves). Your brain is good at changing these vibrations into the sounds you hear. But your hearing can, over time, be permanently damaged by loud noises. Sensorineural hearing loss can also be from damage to the nerve or to the inner ear. A cochlear implant could help restore hearing in some cases of hearing loss, especially extreme cases.
• Obstruction based loss of hearing: You can show all the signs of hearing loss when there is something obstructing your ear canal. Debris, earwax, and tumors are just a few of the things that can cause a blockage. Your hearing usually returns to normal once the obstruction is cleared, and that’s the good news.

A hearing test can help you figure out whether hearing aids will help improve your hearing.

Treatment of Hearing Loss

Sensorineural hearing loss currently has no cure. But it might be possible to get treatment for your hearing loss. The following are some ways that getting the appropriate treatment can help you:

• Stop mental decline.
• Preserve and protect the hearing you have left.
• Cope successfully with any of the symptoms of hearing loss you might be experiencing.
• Stay engaged socially, keeping isolation away.
• Ensure your all-around quality of life is unaffected or remains high.

Based on how serious your hearing loss is, this treatment can have many kinds. One of the simplest treatments is also one of the most common: hearing aids.

Why Are Hearing Aids a Good Treatment for Hearing Loss?

Hearing aids help the ear with hearing loss to pick up sounds and perform the best they can. Fatigue is caused when the brain struggles to hear because hearing is hampered. As scientist acquire more knowledge, they have recognized a greater chance of cognitive decline with a persistent lack of cognitive input. By allowing your ears to hear again, hearing aids assist the restoration of cognitive 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 help you pay attention to what you want to hear, and drown out background noises.

Prevention is The Best Protection

Hopefully, if you get one thing from this knowledge, it this: you should safeguard the hearing you have because you can’t depend on recovering from hearing loss. Certainly, if you have something blocking your ear canal, more than likely you can have it removed. But lots of loud noises are hazardous even though you may not think they are very loud. That’s why taking the time to protect your ears is a good plan. The better you protect your hearing now, the more treatment possibilities you’ll have when and if you are eventually diagnosed with loss of hearing. Treatment can help you live a great, full life even if recovery isn’t an option. To determine what your best option is, make an appointment with a hearing care professional.