How to prevent hearing loss when you get older?
Sam asked:
I know about listening to music at a sensible level but old people never had ipods did they? How else did they lose their hearing? was it natural?
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I know about listening to music at a sensible level but old people never had ipods did they? How else did they lose their hearing? was it natural?
July 24th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Noise-induced hearing loss is 100 percent preventable. You can protect your hearing by paying attention to noises above 85 decibels in loudness, which can damage your ears. These include lawnmowers, snowblowers, motorcycles, firecrackers, and loud music.
Lower the volume on portable stereos and televisions. When you are involved in a loud activity, wear earplugs or other hearing protective devices. Be sure to protect children as well. Also, steer clear of loud noises that are too close or that last too long.
July 27th, 2009 at 5:49 am
There are many causes of hearing loss that can occur over a lifetime and often these causes work together to cause hearing loss later in life.
Hearing loss related to age is referred to as presbycusis. This is a result of the natural aging process taking a toll on our inner hearing nerve as well as brain processing power which allows us to process and understand what our inner hearing nerves detected. (see:)
There are various influences on the likelihood of developing hearing loss: age, genetics, noise exposure over a lifetime, cardiovascular health, other medical conditions such as diabetes, ototoxic medication exposure and many more. (see:)
You are correct the elderly today were not jamming to their iPod at young ages; however, they were likely exposed to other sources of loud noise such as farm machinery. Also back in the day many devices such as motors, vacuums, etc were much louder than they are today - all in which exposed them to loud noise over their lifetime.
Hearing loss with age is not always caused by just one influence throughout a lifetime but instead it is the influence of many causes working together that can ultimately cause hearing loss as we age.