Keeping your hearing in check

Precautions you can take when it comes to your hearing health
Dec 10, 2011 | Kevin Forde

Are there steps I can take for good hearing health?

We’ve already discussed how some hearing loss is caused by constant exposure to loud noise – music through ear phones, jackhammers and concerts – and how you can prevent this type of hearing loss. But there are other precautions you can take when it comes to your hearing health that may prevent hearing impairment in your future as well.

• Check it out: Just like you’d get your eyes checked once a year or so, so too should you get your hearing checked. This way, if there’s a change in your hearing sensitivity, it’ll hopefully be detected before it gets bad.
• Cancel the noise out: Use sound-isolating or noise-canceling headphones when listening to personal music players.
• Take the lawnmower test: You know how loud a lawnmower is? Well if you’re around something else that’s just as loud as a lawnmower (or actually is a lawnmower), it’s too loud for your sensitive ears and could damage them in the long run. Dilute the noise with earplugs to save yourself future ear problems.
• Genealogy: If there’s a history of known hearing loss in your family, take extra care to protect your ears.
• Butt out: According to some studies, smokers have a greater chance than non-smokers of developing hearing loss due to smoke traveling to the ear and damaging the ear canal.

Already damaged ears can’t be returned to their pristine state, so take these simple steps to try and prevent the problem before it starts.

Kevin Forde is a hearing professional who has been educating medical practitioners and the general public throughout southern Ontario. Kevin was educated at the University of Miami, and Conestoga College, of which he graduated with honours. This was followed by passing an International Licensing Exam and completing a 3000 hour internship program to earn the hearing specialist status. Kevin's compassionate nature, combined with his "whole health, whole lifestyle approach", has helped over 500 individuals and their families regain connectivity and intimacy they did not realize had slipped away. Kevin Forde currently practices at Progressive Hearing Healthcare in Etobicoke, Ontario. http://progressivehearing.ca/

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