Hearing Protection Tips

If you have 100-percent of your hearing or close to it, you need to protect your ears properly to keep it intact. There are various pieces of hearing equipment made to protect your ears from dangers such as high wind and cold, water, noise, dirt, and also from other people and objects while playing various sports.

Here are a few hearing protection tips:

• Make sure that your ears are always properly covered by a hat or ear muffs in the cold, rain and wind. This will keep your ears and ear canals both warm and dry.
• Make sure you wear ear plugs or ear muffs when you are subjected to loud, constant and monotonous noises. These types of noises are commonly heard in factories, on construction sites, at airports, at rock concerts and in various sporting activities such as motorcycle racing, car racing and on shooting ranges.
• You should also wear the proper protective gear for your head and ears while competing in sports such as ice hockey, rugby, football, fencing, boxing, lacrosse, hunting and various forms of martial arts.
• You should also protect your ears from excessive noise when using items such as lawn mowers, drills and other power tools.
• If you are a musician, you should also look into getting yourself specially made musician ' s earplugs as loud music can often lead to hearing loss.
• Remember to keep your television set, computer, radios and other audio devices at a respectable level of volume.
• Make sure your hearing protection fits. Hearing protection equipment won ' t protect your hearing if they aren ' t covering your ears properly.

Hearing loss is often permanent, so it ' s worth investing a few dollars into the proper type of hearing protection devices. Make sure your hearing protection devices are designed for what you are using them for and make sure they are comfortable and fit you properly.

Counseling Tips

If you are the spouse, child or friend of someone with untreated hearing loss, you may think you’re helping them by repeating yourself, making extra effort to speak louder or more clearly, or by interpreting what others say. What you may not realize is that you’re unknowingly assisting in their failure to seek help.

Many people with hearing loss don’t realize how much they’re actually missing because you have become their ears. However, it takes only a short time for them to realize that, without your help, they’re in trouble. Here are some simple steps you can take to help your friend or loved one get the help they need:

Don't:

1. Repeat yourself
2. Raise your voice
3. " Translate " conversation
4. Act as their messenger on the phone

Do:

1. Let them know waiting won't make the hearing loss go away or get better
2. Communicate how their loss is affecting your relationship
3. Encourage them to get their hearing screened
4. Accompany them to their appointment

Research has also shown that hearing instruments do have a significant impact on interpersonal relationships and overall quality of life. Specifically, the National Council on Aging (NCOA) surveyed 4000 hearing impaired individuals and their family members and found:

• Treatment of hearing loss improves the relationship at home and with family
• The use of hearing instruments is associated with reductions in anger, frustration, paranoia and anxiety
• Most people who use hearing instruments have improved social lives
• People who use hearing intruments report better health than hard-of-hearing people who do not use hearing instruments
• 9 out of 10 hearing instrument users report improvements in their quality of life