How Your Body Recovers From Injury and Illness
The physical body can normally heal scratches, cuts, and fractured bones, though some injuries take longer than others.
Sadly, there is no remedy for the fragile hair cells in your ears once they are damaged.
At least thus far.
Animals can repair damage to the cilia in their ears and get their hearing back, but human beings don’t have that ability (although scientists are working on it).
If you damage the hearing nerves or the tiny hairs, you could experience permanent hearing loss.
At What Point Does Hearing Loss Become Irreversible?
The initial thing you think of when you find out you have hearing loss is whether it can come back.
It is uncertain if it will happen, as it is dependent on numerous factors.
There are a couple of basic forms of hearing loss:
- Blockage-related hearing loss: If your ear canal is partially or completely obstructed, it can mimic the symptoms of hearing loss.
Earwax, debris, and abnormal growths can potentially block the ear canal.
Your hearing generally returns to normal after the blockage is eliminated, and that’s the good news. - Hearing loss caused by damage: But there’s another, more widespread type of hearing loss that accounts for around 90 percent of hearing loss.
This specific form of hearing loss, referred to as sensorineural hearing loss in medical terms, is usually irreversible.
Here’s how it works: tiny hairs in your ear vibrate when struck with moving air (sound waves).
Your brain converts these vibrations into auditory signals that are perceived by you as sound.
Prolonged exposure to loud noises can, however, lead to permanent damage to your hearing.
Sensorineural hearing loss can also be triggered by injury to the inner ear or nerve.
In certain cases of extreme hearing loss, a cochlear implant may have the ability to enhance hearing function.
A hearing exam will help you identify whether hearing aids will help strengthen your hearing.
Treatment of Hearing Loss
Sensorineural hearing loss currently has no cure.
But it may be possible to obtain effective treatment.
The following are a number of ways that getting the right treatment can help you:
- Maintain a good overall standard of living and well-being.
- Successfully manage any symptoms of hearing loss that you may be encountering.
- Maintain and safeguard the hearing you still have.
- Maintain connections and community involvement to prevent feelings of loneliness and solitude.
- Prevent cognitive degeneration.
The kind of treatment you get for your hearing loss will differ depending on the extent of the condition.
A typically recommended and rather straightforward strategy is the use of hearing aids.
What Role do Hearing Aids Play in Managing Hearing Loss?
People who cope with hearing loss can use hearing aids to help them perceive sounds, allowing them to work as efficiently as they can.
Tiredness is the outcome when the brain strains to hear.
Scientists have come to recognize that extended mental inactivity poses a significant risk to mental health, as new discoveries shed light on the value of continuous mental stimulation.
Your cognitive function can start to be recovered by using hearing aids because they help your ears hear again.
Studies have shown that wearing hearing aids can considerably delay cognitive decline, with some research indicating a decrease of up to 75%.
Cutting-edge hearing aids enable you to focus in on particular sounds you wish to hear while minimizing background noise.
Prevention is The Best Defense
If you take away one thing from this little lesson, hopefully, it’s this: you should protect 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 usually be safely cleared out.
However, this doesn’t diminish the danger posed by loud noises, which can be harmful even if they don’t seem excessively loud to you.
That’s why making the effort to protect your ears is a smart plan.
The better you protect your hearing now, the more treatment possibilities you’ll have when and if you are eventually diagnosed with hearing loss.
Getting treatment can allow you to lead a fulfilling life, even if total recovery is not achievable.
To determine what your best option is, schedule an appointment with our hearing care professionals.