Keep Your Ears Safe
World Hearing Day, presented by the World Health Organisation, will take place this year on Saturday, March 3rd. In the lead up to the day, Australia will celebrate Hearing Awareness Week, running from February 25th. The international theme this year will be ‘Hear The Future’, focusing on the expected increase in the prevalence of hearing loss in the coming years.
While many of us may take our hearing for granted, sometimes even wishing we could turn it off for a moment, this is the reality many around us live every day. It is important to remember how lucky we are to have the chance to enjoy this amazing ability.
To be able to hear is so important for so many reasons. Take a workplace for example, communicating simple tasks becomes much harder and more time-consuming, while in a home life situation, communicating with children and family members becomes a task even over the simplest of topics.
Looking after your hearing is equally as important as maintaining any other part of your body. Yet we are all guilty of neglecting it at times, which is why we have compiled our top 5 tips to look after your hearing.
1. Use protection in loud situations. If you are someone who works in a loud environment, from anything such as lawn mowing, to factory work, to construction sites, to spinning tracks in a loud bar or club, you need to ensure your ears are protected.
Assume that if you can’t have a conversation with someone over the noise, without yelling, that you should probably pop in some earplugs for your safety. They are cheap and easy to find, and their size makes them even easier to bring with you anywhere!
2. Ensure you clean and dry your ears properly. After swimming or showering always be sure to gently towel dry your ears to avoid bacteria which can grow in moisture. Use proper ear cleaning tools to gently clean out excess dirt in your ears. But remember, a little bit of wax is good for you! It lines the ear and acts as protection from dust or other harmful elements which can hurt your eardrum and cause permanent damage. So, don’t take the term ‘squeaky clean’ literally!
3. We all love a moment of peace listening to music, whether it be on the bus ride home, on our morning run, or just before bed as we relax. But headphones, especially the small earbud types, can be dangerous to your ear’s health if you overdo it. Following a 60/60 rule; volume at 60% for no longer than 60 minutes per day, is a good indicator for you of when to unplug and give your ears a break.
4. Allow time to recover after a loud night! Research suggests that after a noisy night out that your ears need an average of 16 hours of quiet rest to recover! So, do your ears a favour, grab a good book and call it a lazy Sunday.
5. Getting regular hearing check-ups are the best way to detect early on any signs of future hearing loss. Developing gradually, hearing loss can go untreated for many years as we do not know how to recognize the early symptoms! An annual visit to your doctor can help you in recognizing these signs and give you a better quality of life with quality hearing.