The Recovery Capacity of Your Body
The human body normally has the ability to recover from cuts, scratches, and broken bones, although the healing process may differ in duration depending on the damage.
But you’re out of luck when it pertains to repairing the tiny little hairs in your ears.
At least thus far.
Animals have the capability to regenerate damaged cilia in their ears, restoring their hearing, a characteristic that scientists are currently making an effort to reproduce in humans.
That means you may have an irreversible loss of hearing if you damage the hearing nerve or those tiny hairs.
When is Hearing Loss Permanent?
Upon identifying hearing loss, the first worry that commonly arises is whether the hearing will be recovered.
Whether it will or not depends on a variety of factors.
There are two fundamental forms of hearing loss:
- Obstruction-based loss of hearing: When there’s something obstructing your ear canal, you can experience all of the symptoms of hearing loss.
Debris, earwax, and growths are some of the things that can cause a blockage.
Your hearing normally returns to normal after the blockage is cleared, and that’s the good news. - Damage-related hearing loss: A more common form of hearing loss, responsible for about 90 percent of all instances, is triggered by damage instead of other variables.
This distinct type of hearing loss, referred to as sensorineural hearing loss in medical terms, is typically permanent.
Here’s the way it works: tiny hairs in your ear move when struck with moving air (sound waves).
These vibrations are then transformed, by your brain, into signals that you perceive as sound.
Prolonged exposure to loud noises can, however, lead to permanent damage to your hearing.
Sensorineural hearing loss can also be triggered by damage to the inner ear or nerve.
In certain instances of severe hearing loss, a cochlear implant might have the ability to improve hearing function.
A hearing assessment will help you determine whether hearing aids will help enhance your hearing.
Solutions for Enhancing Your Hearing
There is currently no cure for sensorineural hearing loss.
Treatment for your hearing loss may, however, be an option.
Benefits of proper treatment for your well-being:
- Ensure your general quality of life is unaffected or remains high.
- Effectively manage any of the symptoms of hearing loss you may be experiencing.
- Protect your remaining hearing to stop added damage.
- Maintain connections and community participation to prevent feelings of isolation and solitude.
- Prevent cognitive degeneration.
This treatment can take many forms, and it’ll usually depend on how severe your hearing loss is.
One of the most common treatment options is fairly simple: hearing aids.
How is Hearing Loss Treated by Hearing Aids
People who have hearing loss can use hearing aids to help them perceive sounds, allowing them to work as efficiently as possible.
Tiredness is the consequence when the brain struggles to hear.
As scientists develop more insights, they have recognized a greater danger of cognitive decline with a persistent lack of cognitive stimulation.
Your mental function can start to be recovered by using hearing aids because they help your ears hear again.
In fact, utilizing hearing aids has been shown to slow cognitive decline by as much as 75%.
Contemporary hearing aids will also allow you to focus on what you want to hear while tuning out background sounds.
Prevention is The Best Defense
If you take away one thing from this article, hopefully, it’s this: you should safeguard the hearing you have because you can’t depend on recovering from hearing loss. If an object becomes wedged in your ear canal, it can likely be safely removed.
However, this doesn’t decrease the risk posed by high-volume sounds, which can be harmful even if they don’t seem excessively loud to you.
So taking steps to protect your hearing is a good plan.
The better you safeguard your hearing now, the more treatment possibilities you’ll have when and if you are eventually diagnosed with hearing loss.
Receiving treatment can allow you to live a fulfilling life, even if total recovery is not achievable.
To determine what your best choice is, make an appointment with our hearing care professionals.