5 Ways to Protect Your Hearing Health This Summer

Don’t let ear pain or hearing loss bring you down this summer. Concerts, yard equipment, and swimming all have the potential for life-changing hearing loss if you don’t take the proper precautions ahead of time. 

That’s why we believe that enjoying the sounds of summer shouldn’t come at the cost of your long-term hearing well-being. That’s why we’ve put together this guide on five essential ways to protect your sense of hearing throughout the sunny months.

5 Ways to Protect Your Hearing Health This Summer

If you plan to enjoy your summer thoroughly, consider these tips when protecting your hearing health.

1. Be Smart about Loud Noises at Summer Events

Summer is synonymous with outdoor concerts, festivals, and fireworks displays. 

While enjoyable, these events often involve prolonged exposure to high decibel levels.

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), prolonged exposure to noise above 85 decibels can cause permanent hearing loss. 

To put this into perspective, concerts can reach 100-110 decibels, with fireworks peaking at nearly 150 decibels.

How to Protect Your Hearing:

Earplugs are the best protection against hearing loss in the summer. While not trendy, they do wonders for protecting the long-term health of your hearing.

Opt for high-fidelity earplugs designed for music, which reduce the volume evenly across frequencies, preserving the sound quality while lowering the intensity. 

You can get away with foam earplugs, but they might muffle sounds more.

Also, keep a safe distance from loud noises. That means avoiding being right in front of the speakers or the fireworks’ launch area.

You might even want to take listening breaks. Find a quieter area to allow your ears to recover from the loud noises.

2. Guard Your Ears During Water Activities

While swimming and boating are quintessential summer pastimes, they can also lead to hearing damage if not taken seriously.

Water introduces moisture and other irritants into your ear canals, leading to swimmers’ ear. Symptoms of swimmer’s ear include pain, hearing loss, and more.

How to Protect Your Hearing:

Did you know they make swimming earplugs? 

Custom-molded or over-the-counter swim earplugs can create a watertight seal, preventing water from entering the ear canal. 

Get a pair if you’re prone to ear infections or spend much time in the water during the summer. Your hearing health will be much happier for it.

When you’re done in the water, dry your ears.

After swimming, gently tilt your head to each side to allow water to drain out. 

You can also use a soft towel to pat your outer ear dry. Avoid inserting cotton swabs deep into the ear canal, as this can push debris further in and potentially damage the eardrum.

3. Protect Your Ears from Extreme Heat and Sun

Extreme heat does not directly cause hearing loss; other heat-related illnesses could lead to hearing loss.

For example, sun exposure causes dehydration, affecting the inner ear’s fluids. Heatstroke may also decrease blood circulation to the ears.

These conditions might not directly relate to hearing loss, but protecting yourself limits the chances of something unfortunate. 

How to Protect Your Hearing:

This advice is just helpful in general: stay hydrated. The last thing you want ruining your summer is a case of dehydration or heatstroke.

Proper hydration supports all bodily functions, including those of the inner ear.

4. Be Mindful of Loud Yard Work and Power Tools

Yard work can be loud, especially if you’re mowing the lawn, using leaf blowers, and operating power tools.

Lawn mowers, for example, can produce noise levels between 90 and 105 decibels, while leaf blowers can reach up to 110 decibels.

Even just a few minutes exposed to this high-level noise could cause hearing health damage in the short and long term.

How to Protect Your Hearing:

We suggest investing in a good pair of earmuffs or industrial-grade earplugs designed to reduce noise from power tools. 

You want a snug fit while providing substantial noise reduction.

It also doesn’t hurt to break up your yard work into shorter sessions to reduce the overall duration of noise exposure.

5. Pay Attention to Ear Discomfort or Changes in Hearing

This summer, don’t ignore minor ear discomfort or temporary changes in hearing. 

Many exciting events might come your way this summer, but ignoring persistent pain, pressure, drainage, or a sudden change in your hearing could lead to more serious issues if left untreated.

Call Hearing Health Center immediately to schedule an appointment if your hearing or pain changes.

What to Do:

If you experience persistent ear pain, drainage, sudden hearing loss, or tinnitus that doesn’t subside, consult a hearing healthcare professional immediately. Early diagnosis and treatment often prevent long-term complications.

Also, don’t try to self-diagnose or treat ear problems with over-the-counter remedies without consulting a professional, especially if symptoms are severe or persistent.

Struggling with Ear Pain? Having Trouble Hearing?

At Hearing Health Center, our team is ready to help you with any ear problems you might be experiencing. Our team of expert audiologists can help you with temporary hearing loss, hearing aid fittings, and so much more.

Call us today or book an appointment online to get your hearing health where it needs to be this summer.