Life can get loud and busy, but your home should be a quiet, calm place, promoting not just your emotional well-being but also the health of your sense of hearing. Your hearing health professional has probably warned you about the importance of maintaining a safe listening environment and taking proactive steps for your hearing health.
Hearing Protection at Home
Creating a quiet environment at home is a positive step towards preserving your hearing health. While individuals often associate hearing protection with loud events or workplaces, everyday activities can also expose you to potentially harmful noise levels. In fact, investing in hearing protection, like earmuffs or custom-molded earplugs, can help mitigate the impact of common household sounds, including vacuum cleaners, blenders or even loud music.
The Role of a Hearing Health Professional When it Comes to Your Home
Why would a hearing health professional make suggestions when it comes to your hearing health at home? There may be risks you are unaware of. For instance, if you already wear hearing aids, you may still require hearing protection tips on how to keep your hearing devices clean and avoid ear infections, which could further affect your hearing health.
Similarly, if you are someone who frequently resorts to earplugs for a quiet night’s sleep, you may want to discuss the best tips on finding the right earplugs and how to clean reusable plugs to keep risks at bay.
Hearing Hygiene: Protecting Your Ears at Home
Beyond hearing protection, maintaining good hearing hygiene is also essential for long-term health. While cotton swabs are popular to clean your ears, hearing health professionals strongly advise against using them. Inserting objects into the ear canal can pose a risk of pushing earwax deeper, potentially impacting the eardrum. You could also cause damage to the inner ear if you push too hard. Instead, opt for gentle external cleaning, using a washcloth and avoid inserting anything into the ear canal.
If you tend to experience excessive wax production in your ears, wearing earplugs for a prolonged period of time could also lead to earwax blockages. So, if earwax is an issue for you and you still want some level of hearing protection at home, opt for over-the-ear protection.
Healthy Listening Levels at Home
Maintaining a quiet home involves paying attention to the sounds around you. A healthy listening level for audio devices is around 60 decibels, especially if you are wearing headphones. Conversations also fall within this range.
Prolonged exposure to sounds over 85 decibels can lead to hearing damage over time. Your hearing health professional can recommend adequate hearing protection for loud activities, such as lawn mowing. Wearing over-the-ear hearing protection, such as earmuffs, will not only reduce noise exposure but also protect your ears from flying debris.
Remember, creating a quiet home environment is not just about minimizing noise, but also being proactive about your hearing health, including how hygiene or habits can affect your ears. Being mindful of harmful listening levels is not always enough, so it is worth adding hearing protection at home to preserve your hearing.