It’s no lie, that one of the main things you can do to prevent your hearing from degrading as you age is protection. Did you know that immediate exposure to noises over 120db can permenantly damage your hearing? Something as simple as a loud superbike or supercar driving past is enough to damage your hearing.
Now, of course certain situations such as this are hard to plan for when it comes protecting your hearing. The world is getting louder, more things are happening around you, places are getting busier, but I don’t recommend wearing a form of hearing protection every second of every day. What is important is recognising times and situations when you may need hearing protection, and planning well for it.
With myself being a race car driver, you can always count on me wearing a form of hearing protection at the race track, no ifs or buts. Whether is be foam plugs or ear defenders, you can bet that i’ll be wearing something. People often ask if I got my hearing loss from being exposed to race engines most of my life, however that isn’t the case. That doesn’t mean though that I shouldn’t be mindful about protecting my hearing. It’s often ironic that I have hearing loss yet I compete in the loudest sport in the world.
Sometimes in your daily life, you don’t realise just how loud your surroundings are. I get it. Sometimes I’ll be jamming away to my favourite music, and when the music stops, that’s when I then realise just how loud the music was playing. And as the world gets louder, its something you tend to just get used to. The more your exposed to louder noises, the more it feels like the norm.
Taking listening breaks can be a great practice when it comes to preserving your hearing for the long term. Finding 5 minutes here or 10 minutes there to sit, be quiet, turn off the TV or your heavy metal playlist, and just recognise how peaceful the quiet can be, can really help not only your hearing, but also your mood in general. Something I have noticed is when I do this myself, the next time I go to listen to music, I often set the volume slightly lower. Now im not saying don’t enjoy things like the TV or your music, but often times you don’t need it as loud as you normally do have it. Find your level that suits you to where you can still enoy things like that, without damaging your hearing. Remember, the idea here isn’t to remove things like this all together, I don’t want you to have a boring life. It’s all about being mindful whilst you enjoy the little things.
The last thing you can on a regular basis to have your hearing checked. Think about it, most people get some sort of check up annually whether it be a blood test, general health check, the dentist often twice annually, but people don’t think about their hearing as much. It’s definitely an area that is often overlooked.
Having a thorough hearing test once a year will allow to keep track of your hearing, notice any patterns or changes in your hearing as you grow older, from which you can pin point any areas in your life where you could be more mindful about protecting your hearing, and then take action. Its great to catch negative patterns in your hearing as early as possible. One, because you can take action to protect your hearing, and two, you might find out that you would benefit from hearing aids earlier than you originally thought, which isn’t a bad thing at all!
Wearing hearing aids is also a way to prevent your hearing from degrading as you age. They helped to keep certain parts of your brain fired up, healthy and responsive, which in turn helps to keep nerves and receptors to your ear drums active, slowing down the rate at which your hearing degrades.
Plus, there are so many other benefits aside from that to wearing hearing aids! You will feel more involved in conversations, more in tune with nature and your surroundings, you will hear sounds you may not have heard in a long long time. You will notice your mood change, your confidence increase. Your life will just better in all areas. You will actually want to wake up in the mornings and enjoy life, instead of dreading waking up knowing you are going to struggle hearing things that day.
All of this is to say, its a great idea to recognise where you could turn the volume down, take action to protect your hearing, and to monitor your hearing on a regular basis. Your future, older self, will thank you for it.