The Recovery Capability of Your Body
The human body can usually repair scrapes, cuts, and fractured bones, though some injuries take longer than others.
Sadly, there is no fix for the delicate hair cells in your ears once they become damaged.
Up to this time, at least.
Animals can repair damage to the hair cells in their ears and get their hearing back, but people don’t have that ability (though scientists are tackling it).
That means you may have a permanent loss of hearing if you damage the hearing nerve or those little hairs.
When is Hearing Loss Irreversible?
The initial thing you consider when you discover you have hearing loss is whether it can come back.
Whether it will or not is dependent on a variety of things.
There are two fundamental types of hearing loss:
- Blockage-related hearing impairment: If your ear canal is partially or entirely blocked, it can mirror the symptoms of hearing loss.
Debris, earwax, and tumors are a few of the things that can cause a blockage.
The good news is, your hearing generally recovers when the obstruction is cleared away. - Hearing loss due to damage: But there’s another, more prevalent type of hearing loss that represents approximately 90 percent of hearing loss.
Known clinically as sensorineural hearing loss, this type of hearing loss is usually irreversible.
The hearing process is triggered by the impact of moving air on tiny hairs in the ear which send sound waves to the brain.
Your brain changes these vibrations into auditory signals that are perceived by you as sound.
But your hearing can, over time, be permanently harmed by loud noises.
Sensorineural hearing loss can also be triggered by harm to the inner ear or nerve.
A cochlear implant can help reestablish hearing in some cases of hearing loss, especially in extreme cases.
A hearing assessment can assist in identifying if hearing aids would enhance your ability to hear.
Solutions for Improving Your Hearing
There is currently no cure for sensorineural hearing loss.
But it may be possible to obtain effective treatment.
The following are a few ways that getting the right treatment can help you:
- Maintain a good total standard of living and well-being.
- Successfully manage any symptoms of hearing loss that you might be experiencing.
- Preserve and protect the hearing you still have.
- Maintain connections and community involvement to avoid feelings of isolation and solitude.
- Stop mental decline.
This treatment can take many forms, and it’ll normally be dependent on how extreme your hearing loss is.
A typically encouraged and rather straightforward strategy is the use of hearing aids.
How is Hearing Loss Treated by Hearing Aids
Individuals who have hearing loss can use hearing aids to help them perceive sounds, allowing them to work as effectively as possible.
Tiredness is the result when the brain struggles to hear.
As scientists acquire more insights, they have recognized a more significant threat of cognitive decline with a persistent lack of cognitive input.
Hearing aids help you recover your mental function by allowing your ears to hear again.
In fact, utilizing hearing aids has been shown to slow down mental decline by as much as 75%.
Contemporary hearing aids will also allow you to pay attention to what you want to hear while tuning out background sounds.
The Best Protection is Prevention
Preserving your hearing is essential because once it’s gone, it’s often permanent. If an object becomes lodged in your ear canal, it can likely be safely removed.
However, this doesn’t lessen the danger posed by loud noises, which can be harmful even if they don’t seem overly loud to you.
So taking steps to safeguard your hearing is a wise decision.
If you are ever diagnosed with hearing loss in the future, you will have more treatment options if you take steps to protect your hearing now.
Receiving treatment can allow you to live a fulfilling life, even if complete recovery is not achievable.
To determine what your best option is, schedule an appointment with our hearing care experts.