Sound and hearing play an integral role in our lives. From the minute we wake up as our alarm goes off, our Spotify playlist playing music in the background, listening to the morning news, and to the end of our day when we decide to pull up Netflix and watch a couple of episodes.
However, despite the significance of sound in our lives, the vast majority of us fail to care for the body part that allows hearing, our ears. But why should you care about them just as much as eyesight and all the other senses of your body?
Hearing Loss Is Common
An issue that not many are aware of is how common hearing loss is becoming in the modern-day. As our ears are more exposed to loud sounds and erratic noise, the gradual loss of hearing because of age has been sped up with the abundance of intense volumes coming from our day-to-day activities.
On top of that, ear disorders and diseases also go unnoticed because many of us are uninformed and fail to realize the signs and symptoms of unhealthy ears. Adding all that up puts many people at an increased risk of living in a world without sound, hearing substantially less, and needing a hearing aid.
So to combat this hearing loss and lack of ear care pandemic, we’ve chosen to increase awareness on healthy ear care practice. And among the following are things you can quickly adapt to your life right now.
#1 Avoid Blasting Loud Noise
Firstly, we need to rid ourselves of the number one culprit – loud noise. Constantly blasting our eardrums with absurdly loud sounds will do nothing but hurt our sense of hearing and cause them to deteriorate. While we might think that it helps us hear things much clearer, this is already a sign of our degrading hearing ability.
- Turn the volume down when using headphones: If you plan on using headphones or earbuds, ensure that you turn the volume down to safe levels to keep your ears from sustaining any form of damage. Understand that these devices directly channel music, dialogue, and all forms of sound straight to your ears, so max volume will indeed cause you to hurt.
- Use earplugs in loud environments: While we don’t expect you to go out any time soon, when you find yourself in a noisy environment, make sure to keep earplugs handy. Earplugs will negate a lot of the volume coming from unwanted noise and lessen the impact on your ears to keep them healthy and safe.
#2 Get Regular Checkups
Like any other part of the body, proper ear care also calls for regular checkups and appointments with a medical professional to oversee the general well-being of your ears. An ear doctor can give you a comprehensive look into how well your hearing is doing, and what else you can improve.
- Hearing tests: Much like how eyesight tests function, hearing tests will gauge your hearing capability and detect any signs of hearing loss early. On top of that, a thorough ear checkup will also mean that a doctor can point out any signs of ear disease and prescribe the appropriate medication for treatment.
- Professional Cleaning: A bonus with regular checkups is getting the opportunity to experience professional ear cleaning. There’s only so much we can do unassisted and on our own, but with the help of a medical professional, you’ll be hearing things far better than before. And for more severe cases of clog and wax build-up, only a licensed doctor can resolve your problem.
#3 Don’t Poke Anything Inside
Lastly, whenever you feel an itch or want to start poking into your ear with your finger out of boredom, please refrain yourself from doing so. Many common ear problems usually stem from the unhealthy and destructive habit of poking things inside. And while it might feel like instinct, you should start reminding yourself to stop now before you experience anything more severe down the road. Ear care should be treated with the same level of importance as AED training and licensing.
- Don’t clean with cotton swabs: Sure, you could argue that you’ve been using q-tips for a very long time now, but these are doing more harm than good. Yes, they do get some of the wax out and are satisfying to use, but they push them deeper down and lead to more severe issues.
- Soften the wax and flush it out: If earwax is a persistent problem, soften the wax first and flush them without using any cotton swabs. Drop a bit of mineral oil or baby oil into your ear to help with softening, and flush it out with warm water after 15 minutes.
Treat Every Part Of Your Body With Equal Care
Now that you’re well-equipped with the knowledge of ear care, we want to remind you to treat every part of your body equally. Each body part plays an important role, and not one is more important than the other. So take this information and make sure to share it with friends and family!
