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The New Year is a great time to put some healthy habits in place. You might feel the itch to get more exercise and activity in your routine. Morning exercises can change the way you feel all day long, and the benefits of aerobic exercise can’t be ignored either. Others might feel the need to get some healthy eating habits in place. Cutting back on the junk food and bumping up the fresh vegetables is a great way to boost your energy and to make sure you are getting essential nutrients from a natural source. Getting adequate and restful sleep is yet another habit you will not regret. Whether you make yourself go to sleep earlier or change your sleeping environment to be more conducive to rest, getting enough rest can change your whole orientation to life.
The list of healthy activities goes on and on, including drinking plenty of water, going to the doctor for an annual physical, and giving attention to your mental health. With such a long list of potential habits to develop, the task of getting healthy in 2019 might feel insurmountable. The good news is that you don’t have to tackle everything all at once! One simple, healthy step in the right direction could make everything a lot easier: scheduling an annual hearing test.
It might seem unnecessary to you to schedule a hearing test every year. You might even feel like your hearing is just fine and that you don’t need to visit an audiologist or hearing specialist at all. Though you might feel like you are hearing easily and clearly, an annual hearing exam is important for two main reasons. First, it is important to understand your baseline hearing profile before hearing loss begins. Second, hearing loss can be gradual, and you might not even realize the loss that has already occurred since your brain has made small adjustments to match your hearing level.
Even those who do not have hearing loss can benefit from a visit to the audiologist or hearing specialist. Before any hearing loss has occurred, your baseline hearing profile is a good way to understand changes in your ability to hear. An audiogram is a visual depiction of your hearing ability at different levels of volume from quiet to loud and different frequencies from low to high. Each person has a slightly different baseline hearing profile, including frequencies that might be difficult to hear or where you might have exceptional sensitivity. By charting your hearing ability before you experience hearing loss, your audiologist or hearing specialist will be able to witness subtle changes across the frequency spectrum. With this knowledge in hand, they’ll be better equipped to diagnose hearing loss if it occurs, as well as to recommend a line of treatment or assistance for your needs.
The gradual nature of hearing loss is another reason that annual hearing exams are a good idea. Some people do encounter sudden hearing loss, either resulting from an injury, illness, or exposure to a damaging sound such as an explosion or car crash. Although sudden hearing loss can occur, the much more common form of hearing loss is gradual. As we go through life, our ears are constantly inundated with sounds. Exposure to the pressure waves of sound does very slow damage to our ears, and the experience of hearing loss later in life is nearly inevitable. For some who encounter gradual hearing loss, the experience is obvious and unavoidable. Yet, others may not even know that they have lost hearing in a certain range. You are able to make small adjustments to how you hear, and may not even realize you’re struggling to hear. Your loved ones may notice your hearing loss before you do, so if your family is complaining that you can’t hear, you should take it seriously.
As you can see, an annual hearing test is a great idea for your overall health, and what better time to schedule an examination than the New Year! Call us today at State Hearing and Audiology to schedule an annual hearing test. You will reap the benefits of documenting your hearing over the years, and will catch your hearing loss as soon as possible.
