Top Causes of Hearing Loss in Young Adults

How are your ears lately? If you’ve cranked up the volume on your headphones more often than normal, you are possibly compensating for some hearing loss. It’s not a health woe restricted to your aging relatives!

Take care of your ears now, and your future self will thank you. Look out for these top causes of hearing loss in young adults and combat them now.

Earwax Buildup

This one was probably easy to guess. When your ears produce wax faster than your body can get rid of it, a blockage forms in your ears and muffles the sound waves trying to get in. Swimmer’s ear, hypothyroidism, extra hair growth, or improper cotton swab use can cause this buildup.

Cotton Swabs

Quit sticking those things directly into your ears! Not only does excessive swabbing contribute to wax buildup, but you run the risk of puncturing your eardrum. They can even make wax clogs worse by pushing them deeper into the ear canal.

Worst-case scenario, the swab itself gets stuck, and you wind up in the doctor’s office to get it removed. You should only use cotton swabs on the outer parts of your ear, not the canal itself, so exercise caution when cleaning your ears.

Excessive Noise

If you listen to loud music regularly, you may want to turn that volume down. Spend some time in silence every day to give your ears a rest. Limit your use of headphones when listening to music, and if you are a musician yourself, watch the speakers. Try not to stand directly next to the amplifier.

In addition, if you have a job that exposes you to loud noise, use earplugs or noise-canceling headphones to muffle it. Tinnitus is a serious (and annoying) condition caused by excessive exposure to loud noise that does not go away. If you already experience ringing in your ears, take care not to let it get worse.

Heredity

You can’t control your genes, but you can better prepare for them if you know there are risks in your family. If you’ve got close relatives who are hard of hearing or use hearing aids, take extra care of your own ears.

Some deterioration in hearing is inevitable, but you have the power to minimize it. Visit a professional audiologist once a year to have your hearing tested.

Illness or Injury

Some illnesses that cause a high fever, like meningitis, can leave you with some hearing loss. Traumatic brain injuries can also affect your hearing. Take care of your ears by keeping the rest of your body healthy and safe!

When you know how young adults lose their hearing, you can more easily avoid those pitfalls and make sure you can listen to music and conversation as you grow older. These top causes of hearing loss in young adults are not always avoidable, but they are extremely useful to know.

image credit: twenty20.com