Hearing conservation is the act of taking measures to help protect the healthy hearing we do have. Hearing conservation can have a profoundly positive impact on your sense of hearing. The most important way we can conserve our hearing is by protecting our ears from excess exposure to loud noises. This helps to prevent noise induced hearing loss, which is one of the most common reasons people lose their hearing.

As mentioned above, noise induced hearing loss is a hearing loss that is caused by excess exposure to loud noises. This can occur in one distinct and extremely loud incident such as a gunshot or jet takeoff, however, more often than not NIHL occurs over a prolonged period of time. Noise induced hearing loss can affect anyone at any age and is actually extremely common amongst young people. In fact, the World Health Organization warns that about 1.1 billion teenagers and young adults are at risk of developing noise induced hearing loss due to their excess use of personal listening devices and noisy leisure activities.

Learning about all of the activities that can cause damage to our hearing, thinking about how to conserve our hearing can feel overwhelming. There are many simple, easy, and cost-effective means you can start taking today to better conserve your hearing.

This is imperative. When you participate in noisy leisure or work activities, you must use hearing protection. Disposable ear plugs do work to lessen the sounds that enter your ears and could potentially cause damage. The most effective and comfortable solution, however, is custom hearing protection that is specifically molded to fit perfectly inside your individual ears.

Life is a noisy thing. It is important to participate in the activities we love, even if they are loud. On top of wearing hearing protection, be sure to also to take periodic breaks from noise as well. Make a vow to once a week swap a noisy activity (such as happy hour with coworkers) for a quieter one like a hike.