Noisy Workplace? Choose Custom Hearing Protection
Are you experiencing some hearing loss? Are you avoiding making an appointment to have your hearing checked? If so, you’re one of the 15 million people in the United States who needs to take action to address their hearing issues.
During 2000-to-2015, it was noted that hearing loss actually doubled in the United States. In fact, there are more people experiencing issues with their hearing than any other combined conditions, such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes, epilepsy, and Parkinson’s.
As you are no doubt aware, people of any age can experience hearing-related issues, including hearing loss. Consider these recent statistics on the number of people that are experiencing these types of issues:
- Teens: One-in-five
- Adults: One-in-five
- Over 65: One-in-three
When people of any age experience hearing loss, it can greatly affect their day-to-day life at home, at work, and with social situations and activities. Furthermore, when a child has even mild hearing loss, they can miss out on class lessons and discussions up to 50% of the time. This can make a definite impact on their ability to succeed in school.
In general, people that experience hearing loss will wait for around seven years before doing something about it. While each individual’s reasons will vary, it’s important to seek help as early as possible.
If you have ongoing or sporadic ringing or buzzing in your ears, for example, the first step is to schedule an appointment with an audiologist, or hearing doctor. During your appointment, they will administer a variety of tests, including a tinnitus hearing test.
In the United States, approximately 50 million people have tinnitus. Over the past year, 25 million adults have experienced tinnitus for five or more consecutive minutes. Approximately 10% of adults experience tinnitus on a regular basis.
Another issue that has the potential to adversely affect hearing is noise pollution. This situation could be easily addressed and prevented by visiting an audiologist to learn about custom hearing protection. In some cases, especially when hearing loss has already occurred, digital hearing aids may be recommended.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) has estimated that a large number of individuals experience high-frequency hearing loss.
Approximately 26 million adults between 20-and-69 have sustained some level of high-frequency hearing loss, according to the NIDCD. This can occur due to work-related noise such as within the construction industry, factory work, and other noisy work environments.
The NIDCD also indicates that this can occur during leisure activities. In addition, it has been found that when someone is exposed to subway noise for only 15 minutes a day, that permanent damage can be caused when this exposure occurs regularly over time.
If you work in a field where there is regular noise pollution, obtaining custom hearing protection is an important option to consider. When you visit an audiologist to have your hearing checked, you can discuss any of your concerns.
If you aren’t currently experiencing any hearing loss due to working in a noisy environment or engaging in other activities where noise is a factor, you may still want to discuss your custom hearing protection options with an audiologist.
