5 Ways to Improve Your Hearing
Did you know that there are a few tips and tricks that you can use to improve your hearing?
Whether you’re tired of dealing with hearing loss, want to protect your ears from further damage, or if you’d like to improve your hearing while wearing hearing aids, we have a few ideas for you.
At Southwestern Hearing Center, we understand the difficulties that impaired hearing can cause and we want to help you understand, navigate, and possibly prevent them. We’ve put together a list of how you can improve your hearing, along with the ways that poor hearing or severe hearing loss can affect your health, and how to prevent further damage.
Keep reading for more information!
How Hearing Loss Can Affect Your Health
Many people begin to notice hearing loss as they age – some begin to notice the loss as early as their 30’s and 40’s. As hearing loss progresses, there are several ways it can take a toll on your health.
One of the biggest problems with hearing loss is that it often causes mental health issues like depression, anxiety, isolation, and feelings of inadequacy. While none of these issues may be directly ‘seen’ by others, the individual suffering from these mental health problems could further withdraw or face physical ailments stemming from them.
Poor hearing ability is also linked to earlier signs of dementia because of the possible atrophy in the brain. When people with hearing loss feeling embarrassed because of their condition and isolate themselves, the brain may become less active and weaker over time.
Aside from the negative health impacts of impaired hearing, many people find themselves having frequent misunderstandings with their partner or children due to mishearing conversations. This can indirectly increase stress levels.
Improving Your Hearing
In order to improve your hearing, you’ll want to schedule a hearing test with an audiologist. This hearing test can help you learn what strength of hearing aid will be most beneficial for you which can prove to be a huge help while you’re trying to improve your hearing.
Aside from actually obtaining the hearing aid, there are some other tips that you can use to improve your hearing:
- Ensure your hearing aids are always working properly, including changing the batteries and professional cleanings as needed
- Be honest with your friends, family, and your provider. When you’re honest with others, they can adapt the way they communicate with you, whether this includes speaking a bit more clearly, slower, or louder. Additionally, giving your audiologist honest feedback will help them make necessary adjustments to further improve your hearing
- Remember that your hearing won’t improve overnight and that it will take a little time to adjust to wearing hearing aids – this means that maintaining a positive, can-do attitude will go far in helping your hearing improve
- Continue to educate yourself about your hearing aids, the issues that may occur, and how to achieve the best benefits while using them. Your audiologist will likely have resources that you can use to learn more about hearing loss, hearing aids, and may have a recommendation for support groups for people who are suffering from the same issue
- Develop a relationship with your doctor. Most hearing damage is permanent but can be remedied with the help of listening devices, making small changes, and with the continued support of a specialist. Buying hearing aids is not a one-time purchase – you may have to update your prescription or device as time passes
Using these steps to help improve your hearing can help to ensure that you have the best possible results with your hearing aids.
Preventing Further Hearing Damage
If you are in a stage of life where you don’t yet require hearing aids but have some minor hearing damage, you will want to take preventative measures to stop any further impairment.
These measures will include avoiding noise exposure above 85 dB or wearing hearing protection if avoidance isn’t possible. Also, be sure to keep your music and TV at comfortable volumes – if you don’t need to turn the volume up, don’t!
To give you an idea of noise levels, most conversations are held at 60 dB, whispering happens at 30 dB, and motorcycles can be louder than 90 dB.
Schedule yearly hearing tests to determine if your hearing damage is staying the same or worsening. Learning how your hearing impairment is progressing can help you decide when it’s appropriate for hearing aids or how to change your noise exposure.
Finally, know the signs of hearing loss. If you find yourself constantly having to increase the volume, ask for people to speak louder, withdraw from conversations in noisy places, or are finding phone communications to be difficult, you may need to seek corrective measures.
Contact a Hearing Aid Specialist Today
Whether you’re trying to improve your hearing by using hearing aids, learning about hearing loss because of a loved one, or taking measures to prevent further hearing loss, the team at Southwestern Hearing Center can help.
We provide a great list of resources that can be used to help individuals who suffer from hearing loss as well as information for caretakers and family members. Additionally, we can help you schedule an appointment with an audiologist in St. Louis, MO, that can perform hearing tests.
However, the biggest way that we can help people with hearing loss is by offering a wide selection of budget-friendly hearing aids.
If you would like to schedule an appointment or need to find the perfect hearing aids, contact us today for a consultation!