Hearing Health Tips
Love your ears…
Our ears and our hearing are precious. They help us to stay in touch with friends and family, enjoy music, warn us of danger and allow us to participate in life. North West Hearing are committed to promoting hearing health and conservation.
Here are a few tips to help keep your ears and your hearing healthy:
Protect your hearing – it’s precious!
Avoid noise exposure.
The modern world is a very noisy place. Remember, any loud sounds can cause irreversible damage to your hearing, even sounds that we enjoy listening to like music. That’s not all, noise can also cause a ringing in the ears, called tinnitus and can make us very sensitive to everyday sounds. The only way to prevent noise damage is to keep the volume down.
Wear hearing protection when you are in loud noise.
Modern custom made hearing protection allows you to discreetly protect your hearing, while not compromising the sound quality. You can even hear clearly enough to have a normal conversation when you are wearing them.
Take regular breaks.
If you have to be in noise for long periods take regular breaks to ensure that you allow your hearing time to recover.
Have a hearing test.
If you are concerned about your hearing come and have a hearing test. It’s better to know if there’s a problem and with modern technology there is almost always something to help you.
Use it or lose it
Research shows that if you have a hearing problem, it is better to get started with amplification early rather than waiting until you can’t manage any more. It also shows that most people wait up to ten years before they seek professional advice, preferring to “soldier on” rather than doing something about it.
Recent research however, shows that if we ignore a hearing problem the hearing mechanism suffers from lack of stimulation, rather like an underused muscle that wastes away. Keeping your ears stimulated with sound helps to maintain a healthy auditory (hearing) pathway to the brain and helps you understand speech as clearly as possible.
If you are experiencing any issues with your hearing, such as problems communicating in background noise or needing to turn up the volume on the television set, come and see us. Our audiologists will perform some accurate but easy tests, which will identify any problems quickly. Then, if your hearing is not as it should be, we will carefully explain the results and provide clear, independent advice about the options available to get you back on track and participating fully in life.
Let your ears look after themselves
The ears have a natural cleansing mechanism to ensure that cerumen (or wax) does not build-up. Earwax is a good thing, it helps to keep the ear canals healthy and prevents debris from reaching the eardrum. Never be tempted to put anything into the ear such as cotton buds. The skin in the ear canal is very fine and sensitive and is easily grazed, putting cotton buds into the ear simply pushes any wax closer to the eardrum and can also result in infections.
If you would like your ears checked or you think you may need to have wax removed, make an appointment to see one of our ear care practitioners. They will provide advice on ear care and can remove wax and other obstructions safely – don’t worry it doesn’t hurt a bit!
