October is National Protect Your Hearing Month. According to the Better Hearing Institute, more than 36 million Americans suffer from hearing loss, with half of that number being younger than age 65. In honor of this month’s theme, we wanted to give you some tips to help keep your hearing healthy!
The World Health Organization estimates about 1.1 billion teens and young adults are at risk for noise-induced hearing loss due to unsafe listening practices. Hearing damage is permanent, and once it happens, there is no cure.
Here are some simple things you can do to protect your hearing:
- If it’s too loud, simply walk away or turn down the volume!
- Prolonged exposure to more than 85dB (about as loud as a vacuum cleaner) can cause damage to your hearing.
- Hearing protection is always a good idea. Football games’ and rock concerts’ noise levels are usually around 110dB.
- A siren on a police car, fire truck or ambulance can be as loud as 120dB!
- It’s also a good idea to have earplugs or some form of protection if you happen to work in a noisy environment.
- Teenagers love listening to music with their earbuds, but 1 in 6 teens have hearing loss, which means the volume levels are probably too loud!
- Even though they are expensive, noise-canceling headphones are popular these days. They block out background noises, allowing the volume to be turned down and listened to at quieter levels.
- Make sure a hearing test is part of any routine health screening. Not only will it give you an idea of how well you are hearing, it might reveal indicators of other potential health issues you may be experiencing.
Have another suggestion for how to protect your hearing? Share it with us in the comments below.
