I found some interesting statistics and facts about deafness I thought you might be interested in reading.

Nearly 1 in 7 people in the UK are affected by deafness or significant hearing difficulty. That’s around 9 million people. Of these, 35,000 are children and young people between the ages of 0 and 25. Around 840 babies are born every year in the UK with impaired hearing in both ears. The majority of children end up with hearing problems due to chronic infection of the middle ear.

At the other end of the spectrum, age-related deafness is seen in 55% of adults over 60 and 70% of adults over the age of 70.

Nearly 87% of hearing damage is sensorineural deafness. Sensorineural deafness results when the tiny sensors in the ear canal are damaged. This happens due to a number of reasons: exposure to loud noise, viral or bacterial infections, genetics, medicines or aging.

In light of this, what can you do to protect your hearing? Obviously, the easiest way to protect your hearing is to wear hearing protection such as earplugs when you know you’ll be exposed to loud noises. Muscian’s earplugs can be used when attending concert or music venues. As well, they can be used when playing an instrument (especially the drums).

You can purchase inexpensive foam earplugs for doing normal chores such as mowing the lawn or using power equipment when doing household projects. Do you have a noisy hobby or special interest? Consider motorcycle earplugs or shooter’s earplugs if you participate in one of these hobbies.

As well, remember to give your ears a break from noise by ceasing the activity now and again and resuming in 15 minutes or so. Turn down the volume on your personal music device or order custom fleximonitors for quality sound without the damaging decibels. Make sure you control the volume on your child’s toys.

Proper nutrition can help protect your ears from damage. How? Just like any other part of your body, the components of your inner ear require nutrients to remain healthy. Taking in a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and whole grains will strengthen all the cells in your body. Make sure ear infections and other infections such as sinus or sore throats receive proper treatment.

If you have any hearing troubles while taking a new medication, make sure you speak with your physician about it immediately before permanent damage occurs. In some cases, such as heart medications, tinnitus is a side effect, but you should never discontinue important medicines such as these without speaking with your doctor. The tinnitus may be temporary as your body adjusts to the medication. Your physician can advise you further on the next course of action.