We often take hearing for granted, but experts say many wait too long to get tested — even as their hearing starts to fade.
For this week’s Healthier Together KIRO 7’s Ranji Sinha spoke with groups urging people to listen to their ears.
Children get tested for hearing almost yearly in some cases, but after age 18, guidance fades and so does attention to hearing.
Some people may not get tested again for decades, and at least one group says waiting ten years or more can be a problem.
“A lot of patients will come in and say, ‘It’s been seven to nine years, and I think I started noticing it, or my family started,’” said Natalie Calderon. She’s an Audiologist with Hearing USA.
“We have a documented loss, and they’re like, ‘Well, until it’s really impacting and I can’t engage in a conversation, I’m doing ok,’”.
Calderon told KIRO 7 it’s a health condition you should treat like any other. If you have vertigo, it should prompt a hearing check. So should progressive difficulty understanding speech and background noise.
“If you wait too long, it makes it that much harder for you to acclimate to the hearing aids,” Calderon said.
“Cochlear implants have dramatically changed the landscape for millions of people around the world,” shared Jay Rubenstein.
He also said advancements in genetics have opened the door to tackling deafness passed down by DNA. One specific mutation is already being tackled.
“Five years ago, I would have told you that was science fiction,” he said. “Years of NIH-funded research on genetics and hearing losses, and gene therapy in general viral vectors that allow you to transport genes, and ultimately research on animals to show that if we inject these viruses into the cochlea, we can actually restore function.”
Earbud headphones are a fact of modern life; both Calderon and Rubinstein said there’s not a lot of data linking them to hearing loss, but it’s something to track.
“Standard rule of thumb is half the volume bar for an hour, then you need to give your ears a break,” Calderon said. “The biggest concern, most people don’t listen to earbuds sufficiently loudly to cause significant hearing. The exception is if they go into a noisy environment wearing their earbuds and crank them up to overcome the presence of the background noise, that’s where real damage can be done.”
Early treatment can improve your hearing. World Hearing Day is March 3rd, so it’s a good reminder to maybe get checked.
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