Can Hearing Protection Prevent Tinnitus?

man cutting wood in garage with hearing protection

Your ears are one of the most important senses, you rely on them each day to hear everything around you. They have many different components that all work together to ensure you hear sounds and noises. An amazing fact about your ears is that they are always working, even when you are asleep. You can’t turn off your ears when you have had enough of the world, another cool fact about ears is that they contain the smallest bones in the human body. 

What Is Tinnitus? 

Tinnitus is the name given to sounds that you hear in your ears that aren’t coming from the world around you. Tinnitus is not usually serious, it can, however, be very annoying to live with. It can affect one or both of your ears and you may not hear the noises all the time, they can come and go at various points throughout the day. 

Signs and Symptoms

The main sign that you have tinnitus is hearing sounds in your ears that other people are not able to hear. These can include but are not limited to ringing, buzzing, whooshing, humming, hissing or throbbing. You should see an audiologist if your tinnitus starts to bother you or affect your daily activities. 

If you discover your tinnitus is beating in time with your pulse, then you also need to see someone about that. When you have your appointment with an audiologist, they will check inside your ears to see if the problem has been caused by something such as earwax or an ear infection.

Prevention 

It is worth mentioning that tinnitus can be prevented if you treat your ears with care and love. Prevention is always key with these sorts of things. If you know you will be around something loud or in a loud environment for quite some time, then you might want to look into some form of ear protection.

This can include earplugs or earmuffs; these are particularly useful if you are working on a building site. The big diggers and equipment used can cause your ears to ring if you are around them for a long while. If you work in the music industry you may also experience tinnitus, ranging from mild to severe. Using earplugs can minimize this risk and exposure to loud sounds. 

Treatment 

There are no known scientific cures for tinnitus, the only treatment options available help you manage the sounds you hear. There are some things you can do to alleviate the burden of your tinnitus; this includes looking after your general health. If you focus on your health and stress levels, then your tinnitus may improve. You could also use hearing aids to minimize the effects of your tinnitus, this is because they get rid of the background noise that may be aggravating your symptoms. 

We hope you found this article helpful, and it gives you lots of advice on how to deal with your tinnitus and manage it better with treatments and preventative measures