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Hearing; an essential sense. How to maintain it youthful
Hearing is essential for interacting with our environment, maintaining relationships and connections with friends and family, participating in team and community activities, and experiencing life events. Hearing allows you to participate in, listen to, laugh at, and enjoy many of the activities that contribute to your overall quality of life.
A series of actions transform sound waves in the air into electrical signals, allowing us to hear. Following a complex sequence of events, your auditory nerve sends these messages to your brain. Sound waves enter the outer ear and proceed to the eardrum via the ear canal, which is a tiny tunnel. The incoming sound waves vibrate the eardrum, which transmits the vibrations to three small bones in the middle ear. The malleus, incus, and stapes are the names of these three bones. The middle ear's bones convert sound vibrations from the air to fluid vibrations in the inner ear's cochlea, which is shaped like a snail and filled with fluid. The cochlea is divided into two parts by an elastic partition that runs from the beginning to the end. The basilar membrane is named for the fact that it acts as the foundation, or ground floor, for critical hearing components. A traveling wave forms along the basilar membrane when the vibrations cause the fluid inside the cochlea to ripple. The wave is ridden by hair cells, which are sensory cells that reside on top of the basilar membrane. Microscopic hair-like projections (known as stereocilia) that sit on top of the hair cells bump into an overlaying structure and bend when the hair cells move up and down. The stereocilia's tips have pore-like channels that open up when they bend. Chemicals rush into the cells as a result, causing an electrical signal. This electrical signal is carried by the auditory nerve to the brain, which converts it into a sound that we can identify and interpret.
Age-related hearing loss
The gradual loss of hearing in both ears is known as age-related hearing loss (or presbycusis). It's a common issue associated with aging. Hearing loss affects one out of every three persons over the age of 65. Some people are first unaware of the change in hearing due to the gradual nature of the decline. Hearing loss makes it difficult to comprehend and follow a doctor's instructions, respond to warnings, and hear phones, doorbells, and smoke alarms. Hearing loss can make it difficult to enjoy conversations with family and friends, which can lead to feelings of isolation. Hearing loss due to age is most commonly experienced in both ears, and both ears are affected equally. If you have age-related hearing loss, you may not notice you've lost some hearing abilities because the decrease is gradual. Age-related hearing loss can be caused by a variety of factors. Changes in the inner ear are the most prevalent cause, although it can also be caused by changes in the middle ear or complex changes along the nerve routes from the ear to the brain. It's also possible that certain medical problems and drugs have a negative impact on hearing.
Ways To Improve Your Hearing:
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Avoid loud noise
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Avoid sharp objects in the ears
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Exercise regularly
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Stop smoking
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Consider the side effects of medicines
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Wear your hearing aids
Use hearing aids
If you've been diagnosed with hearing loss and your healthcare provider has advised hearing aids as a treatment, it is essential that you follow the instructions and wear them as directed. Amplification gives your ears the "boost" they need to send sound waves to the auditory part of the brain, where they're processed as audible sounds. If untreated, the region of the brain that processes auditory information might atrophy or reassign itself to other brain tasks, making it much more difficult to hear. When you use hearing aids, your hearing isn't the only portion of your body that benefits. In addition, your overall health increases. When you don't have hearing aids, you will spend lots of energy and attention trying to hear what is going on around you. If you don't treat hearing loss, your mental health may also deteriorate, especially if you've been avoiding social engagements because you can't hear properly. In the United States, there is a clear link between hearing loss and depression among adults. Other research findings suggest a link between untreated hearing loss and increased anger, anxiety, and social isolation.
Exercise is one of the most important things you can do for your general health and it is also beneficial to your hearing health. Exercise, according to hearing health professionals, boosts blood flow to the ear. The health of the microscopic hair cells in the inner ear, which are responsible for translating the sound your ears collect into electrical impulses for your brain to understand, is dependent on good blood flow. Because these hair cells do not renew, when they die or are injured, our hearing is permanently harmed. Find a physical activity that you enjoy like walking, hiking, gardening, or golfing for example. The American Heart Association suggests 30 minutes of moderate activity five times each week, and the good news is that you may divide that time into three chunks of 10 to 15 minutes each.
Quit smoking because hearing loss is connected to smoking. According to studies, smokers are 28 percent more likely than non-smokers to acquire hearing loss. Hearing loss became more likely as the number of packs of cigarettes smoked and the length of time the person smoked rose. Nicotine and carbon monoxide in cigarettes are thought to constrict blood vessels, depriving your inner ear of the oxygen it requires to maintain hair cells in the cochlea healthy. Nicotine can also interfere with the auditory nerve's neurotransmitters, preventing them from properly processing sound. Fortunately, quitting smoking improves your health nearly immediately.
Reducing the volume is the most straightforward strategy to avoid hearing loss - basically to decrease the amount of noise in your environment. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), 26 million Americans experience hearing loss caused by noise exposure. Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) can be avoided entirely. You should be aware of which noises in your environment are harmful (85 decibels or louder) and when you know you'll be exposed to loud noise, use hearing protection such as earplugs. Move away from the loud noise if you can't protect your hearing. Simply turning down the volume on the television, car radio, or personal electronic gadget is good for many of us.
Hearing exams and tests are important for early detection of hearing issues. Establishing a relationship with a hearing healthcare specialist you can trust is the greatest method to improve your hearing health. This specialist can do a baseline hearing evaluation to establish your present hearing health and track it as you age. If your family physician is unable to recommend someone to care for your hearing, you can use Healthy Hearing's online directory to locate a reputable hearing clinic.
Supplements that counteract a decline in hearing
Vitamins A, C, and E, together with magnesium have been shown to improve hearing, especially after sound-induced hearing loss. When the inner ear cells are exposed to loud noises, free radicals are produced which can damage the ear's small hair cells, lowering hearing capabilities. Hair cells can't regenerate once they've died. At the same time, free radicals reduce blood supply to the ear, making it even more difficult to hear. The powerful antioxidants such as vitamins A, C, and E, together with magnesium, work together to prevent free radicals from developing in response to loud noise. In fact, noise-induced hearing loss was reduced by 80% with this combination. Because free radicals accumulate even after exposure to high noise, consuming the vitamin combination up to three days after the incident can help reduce hearing loss.
Folic acid, also called vitamin B9, for age-related hearing loss. Homocysteine is an amino acid that can contribute to age-related hearing loss. By lowering blood supply to the inner ear, this important amino acid causes hearing loss. A study has shown that men and women with high homocysteine levels in their blood are 65 percent more likely to develop hearing loss. Folic acid prevents blood supply to the ear from being reduced by helping the body break down homocysteine. Audiologists discovered that persons with low amounts of folic acid were considerably more likely to have high-frequency hearing loss. You're also doing a lot more than simply boosting your hearing when you increase your folic acid intake, because too much homocysteine in the blood can indicate and increase risk of heart disease, stroke and dementia. The vitamin folate is found in foods such as green leafy vegetables.
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