Looking after your hearing

Your ears play an important role in helping you to hear what is going on around you and they are not too difficult to look after! Here is some advice for managing earwax and information on how best to help protect your hearing.

Wax

Earwax, commonly known as cerumen, is more helpful than you think. Produced by the ear canal, earwax is there to protect the inside of the ear, trapping dust and other particles such as dead skin cells, sweat, oil, dirt and to help prevent infection. Most people produce manageable levels of earwax and only experience problems if it builds up, causing a sensation of fullness, itchiness or discomfort.

Poking around your ear is something which you should not do. Even using a cotton bud may push earwax deeper into your ear and damage the skin of your ear canal leading to infection. If you feel you have excessive earwax, it is best to get your ears checked by your GP or a Hearing Care Professional. If you still suspect something is not right with your hearing even after the removal of earwax, we recommend that you get your hearing tested.

Noise

Prolonged exposure to loud noise can be very damaging to your hearing. It is one of the main causes of hearing loss and occurs when tiny sensory hair cells in our inner ears are damaged by exposure to loud noises and/or noises that you endure for long periods.

How loud is too loud?

If you have to shout to be heard when someone is two feet away or less, the noise is too loud. As a general rule sounds louder than 80decibels (dB) are considered potentially damaging. Here’s a list of common sounds – you may be surprised how often you are exposed to ‘dangerous’ levels of noise.

How do I know if my hearing has been affected by noise?

It is hard to tell if you’ve been exposed to dangerous levels of noise, however, if you do experience any ringing in your ears, dull hearing and/or pain after being in a noisy environment, you should get your hearing checked.

How can I stop noise from damaging my hearing?

1.Avoid it!

Where possible, avoid noisy environments. Avoid standing right next to speakers at concerts and clubs and take regular breaks when you can.

2.Turn down the volume

If a friend can hear the music from your earphones when standing three feet away, the volume is definitely too high. As a general rule of thumb, you should only use MP3 devices at levels up to 60% of maximum volume for a total of 60 minutes a day.

3.Protect your ears

Sometimes it is impossible to eliminate noise completely, but you can minimise damaging effects by wearing hearing protection such as ear plugs or ear muffs.