Find out how good your hearing is in just three minutes. The online hearing test provides valuable information about your hearing.
It's important to protect your hearing. Ears can be delicate and there are many different causes of hearing loss. Finding out the cause of hearing loss is an essential step in figuring out the best treatment.
The second most common cause of hearing impairment is noise exposure. It's no secret that the world we live in isn't exactly a quiet one. And that's incredibly unfortunate for our ears.
Noise-induced hearing loss can be either gradual or sudden. The former typically results from prolonged exposure to sound between 70-110 dB. This is because the loudest sound we can hear without suffering damage is around the 70 dB mark.
That said, some evidence suggests that even prolonged exposure to ordinary environmental noise may be harmful to one's ears.
Sudden hearing loss is typically caused by exposure to traumatic levels of noise. Any sound above 110 dB without hearing protection is highly likely to result in damage to the ears. This is in addition to being extremely painful.
The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders has a decent list of examples to help you contextualize things:
There are many illnesses that either directly cause hearing loss or may damage the ears as a side effect. In some cases, there's also a genetic/hereditary component to the illness. Per the American Speech Language Hearing Association, illnesses that may result in hearing impairment include:
Hearing loss isn't always avoidable. With that said, there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of keeping your hearing healthy in the long term: