62 Prevention of Hearing Loss

The best way to prevent hearing loss is to take necessary precautions when one is exposed to loud sounds. These precautions include wearing ear plugs. Be nice to your future self and wear them at concerts and loud sporting events or when operating power tools. If you don’t like the muffled sound, buy some fancy ones that attenuate all frequencies equally. While we all lose hearing with age (98% of 80 year-olds have hearing loss), a lot of that is because of exposure to loud noises over the lifetime. Additionally, hearing loss can be due to simple illnesses, such as the flu. This means that getting a flu shot, as well as other vaccines, can be a preventative measure when it comes to hearing loss. Lastly, in today’s world, earbuds are used frequently. It is advised that a person uses caution when listening to music through earbuds, and limits the volume so as not to damage the ear.

Ear infections can also lead to hearing loss. If this happens occasionally, it can be easily medicated. For children who get frequent ear infections, ventilation tubes can be implanted in the tympanic membrane. The tubes relieve pressure from infection to avoid larger tears in the membrane.

Some medicines are ototoxic, meaning they attack the inner ear and auditory nerves. The resulting hearing loss can be temporary or permanent. So be prudent when using Aspirin or other NSAIDs, and be careful with your antibiotics. Overuse or an overdose can result in these ototoxic hearing loss.