How can I protect
myself from hearing loss?

What are some good hearing protection tips?

While there is little you can do to prevent most causes of hearing loss, you can prevent noise-induced hearing loss (the second most common cause) by following good hearing protection practices like these:

Hearing protection tips

1. Use hearing protection around loud sounds. Foam earplugs are an economical solution, or consider purchasing custom earplugs to best reduce the sound levels.
2. Turn the volume down on the TV, radio, music, etc.
3. Avoid loud or noisy activities/places, when possible.
4. Limit your time exposure to loud sounds.
5. When listening to loud sounds (e.g., music, concerts, fitness classes, etc.), take breaks from the noise.
6. Move away from the loudest sound source (e.g., speakers, fireworks, etc.).
7. Give your ears time to recover after being exposed to loud noises.
8. Do not put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear! This includes cotton swabs, bobby pins, keys, paperclips, or anything else you might use to clean or scratch your ears.
9. Keep moving! Exercise keeps the blood pumping throughout the body, including the ears. This keeps the internal parts of the ears healthy.
10. Get your hearing tested, especially if you experience a change in your hearing, or ringing or fullness in your ears over 24 hours.