3 Things You Should Do to Protect Your Ears While on Vacation

You want your vacation to be a fun, enjoyable experience. But you don’t want to have long-lasting memories of this time in the form of hearing loss.

Going on vacation can put you in some situations you may not be in at home, leading to some new experiences which can be amazing and awe-inspiring; what isn’t amazing, though, is sustaining damage to your hearing, incurring ear damage or infections due to not being careful on vacation.

How Vacations Can Damage Hearing

When on vacation, chances are you will want to enjoy every second of it, which means getting involved in everything your destination offers, from boarding aircraft exposing your ears to louder sounds than usual to swimming more frequently than you do at home risking infections and swimmer’s ear, new experiences and changes to your routine can affect your hearing and your health.

Protecting your hearing needn’t be a chore on your vacation; it can be as simple as popping a pair of custom earplugs into your bag for a day of fun and travel in a new environment. But the most important thing is that you are aware of the three main ways you can cause damage to your hearing and the type of hearing protection you can use to avoid hearing loss, whether temporary or permanent.

What Type of Damage Can Ears Sustain on Vacation?

The reality is your ears can sustain damage anywhere; however, the new environment on vacation can pose additional risks for ear damage and potential hearing loss. If you are at all concerned, it could be a good idea to discuss how best to care for your ears with an audiologist before setting off to ensure you are armed with the right advice and tools for your specific trip.

For starters, these tips can help you to protect your ears when traveling.

Wear Noise-Canceling Headphones

During traveling, you might come into louder noises than you do in your day to life. Being close to airplanes can inadvertently put you at risk of hearing loss due to the excessive noise levels. Sounds over 85 decibels can lead to hearing loss if exposure is consistent.

Aircraft noises can exceed 140 decibels, so wearing ear protection around aircraft can reduce this possibility. A simple pair of noise-canceling headphones can work wonders in this environment and others as they lessen the sounds infiltrating your ears and block out any background noise to reduce sound levels.

Wear Earplugs When Swimming

Whether swimming in a pool or the ocean, many contaminants can damage our ears or cause infections, not to mention foreign objects gaining access, especially when swimming in open waters.

Not only can earplugs help reduce noise, but swimmer earplugs are specially designed to protect your ears from water and avoid picking up any undesirable infections or diseases that can impair your health and ruin your trip. Take care not to poke anything into your ear post swimming and dry your ears thoroughly when leaving the water to ensure they are clean and dry.

Use Hearing Protection

Regardless of the vacation you are taking, chances are you will come across an environment where noise levels exceed everyday sounds. Concerts, festivals, carnivals and events can strain your ears.

Earmuffs, defenders and earplugs are designed to reduce the sound impact on your ears. Typically concerts can exceed 100 decibels, with rock concerts even hitting 140 decibels. While this can be an amazing and immersive experience, when noise levels exceed 85 decibels, you risk damaging your ears. Hearing loss and tinnitus can be experienced by frequent exposure to loud noises.

All hearing protection comes with a noise reduction rating (NRR). For example, standard pre-formed earplugs have a 15 NRR. Ear defenders can be higher and different styles and designs can offer different levels of protection for wearers. This makes it essential to shop around to find the proper protection for you.

Why is Protecting Your Ears So Essential?

So, paying attention to your activities to ensure your ears are protected can reduce the risk of damage to your ears. On top of this, exposure to constant loud noises can cause irreversible hearing loss, which can have a massive impact on your quality of life.

If you want to discuss ear care or protecting your ears when on vacation, you can find out more about Hearing Aid Consultants of North Mississippi, by calling us today at (662) 234-1337.