4 Important Steps to Maintaining Ear Health

Medical Video: How to Improve Your Hearing at Home

The ear is one of the five senses that must be maintained health. The older you are, the ear's ability to hear can decrease. Just like the eyes that can experience a decreased ability to see it when you get older. For that, you are advised to maintain the health of your ears from now on, as early as possible.

Some things you can do to maintain ear health are:

1. Clean the ears in the right way

You might assume that you have to clean your ears regularly cotton bud. However, it turns out your assumption is wrong. Instead, you are not recommended to enter cotton bud or something else into the ear to clean the ear. Enter cotton bud into the ear it is risky to push earwax into the ear. In addition, inserting something into the ear cavity also risks being able to damage sensitive organs in the ear, such as the eardrum.

Then, how do you clean your ears? The ear is an organ that can clean itself. Liquids such as wax inside the ear function to prevent dust and other harmful particles from entering the ear. So, the function of the wax is very important for ear health and the presence of earwax is normal. If you have excess liquid wax, you can clean the area around the ear cavity with a soft towel. Or, you can ask for help from a doctor to clean your ears with a special device.

2. Protect your ears from loud noises

The function of the ear is to hear. However, the ear has the capacity to hear sound. Not all sounds fall into the category of safe to hear ears. Too often exposed to loud sounds can reduce your listening ability. This loud sound source can vary, for example from your work environment, from the music you listen to, and so on. To maintain ear health, you need to do the following:

If your work environment always creates loud sounds, such as when cutting grass, using electric tools that make sounds, etc., you should use ear protectors.
If you like listening to music, you should not adjust the volume of your music player too hard. If you listen to music through headphones and the sound is heard by someone near you or you can't hear other sounds, meaning the volume of your music is too loud and you have to lower it. Besides that, don't use it too often headphones to listen to music. Give your ears time to rest. You can follow the 60/60 rules when listening to music through headphones. This means that your music volume limit is no more than 60% and you use it no more than 60 minutes a day.
Don't listen to two sources of loud noise at one time. This can actually damage your hearing. For example, when someone is cleaning the house with vacuum cleaner that makes noise, you don't increase the volume of the television or even listen to music loudly.
If you like watching concerts or going to a place that plays music loudly, you should use earplugs.

3. Keep your ears dry

Ears that are always wet or excessive ear moisture can allow bacteria to enter the ear canal. This can cause an infection of the ear called a swimmer's ear (swimmer's ear) or otitis externa. Swimmer's ear is an infection of the outer ear caused by water trapped in the ear canal which causes bacteria to be trapped. In a warm and humid environment, these bacteria increase in number, causing irritation and infection of the ear canal.

Therefore, make sure your ears are always dry. If you like swimming, it's a good idea to use earplugs for swimming to prevent water from entering the ear. If you feel water coming into your ear, immediately tilt your head and pull your ear lobe to stimulate water out. Don't forget, to always dry your ears with a dry towel after each swim and also after each shower, this is important.

4. Perform a routine ear examination to the doctor

Checking your ear to the doctor is important, especially when you age. Hearing disorders develop gradually, so you need to make sure your ears are in good health at all times. You need to do an initial hearing test so that you can measure and take action whenever you have a hearing loss. Ear examination is also done to ensure there is no buildup of earwax in the ear. If present, your ears may need to be cleaned.

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