'Once it's gone, it's gone': How to future-proof your hearing - BBC

If you neglect your gym routine, you can rebuild your muscles in a matter of months through sweat and dedication. But your hearing? That's one thing you can't retrain. "Once it's gone, it's gone," says Valerie Pavlovich Ruff, an audiologist and hearing loss specialist at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, in the US.

And while we've long known that our hearing gets worse over time, audiologists are seeing evidence of hearing loss in younger and younger patients – including teens and kids under 10.

"We're all bad about protecting our ears when we're younger," says Jamie Bogle, an audiologist at Mayo Clinic in Arizona, in the US. "But those episodes add up over time, so things that we did when we were younger can show up later in life."

And it's not just rocket launches and death metal concerts you have to worry about – many common activities can have a surprising effect on your long-term hearing.

Read on to learn how to future-proof your ears for the decades to come.

Past your eardrum and deep within your inner ear is a fluid-filled chamber called the cochlea. It's lined with thousands of tiny hair cells. On top of each cell is a tuft of dozens of delicate little bristles, and on the bottom is a neuron that feeds into the auditory nerve, which carries electrical signals to the brain.

As sound enters the ear in the form of pressure waves, these tiny hairs sway like trees in the wind. The motion of these hairs is translated into electrical impulses, which our brain interprets as sound.

Exposure to sounds that are too loud for too long acts like gale-force winds, bending or breaking these tiny hairs. And unlike your eyelashes, these don't grow back.

The impacts of hearing loss

As we age, hearing loss can lead to social isolation. People who are worried about saying the wrong thing due to mishearing are more likely to withdraw from the friendships and community relationships that sustain them, says Pavlovich Ruff.

Several studies have also linked age-related hearing loss with cognitive decline or dementia.

But the evidence collected to date doesn't yet prove that hearing loss causes these mental changes. Instead, hearing loss and dementia could both be symptoms of the same underlying degenerative process. "The two can often be confused in the early stages," Pavlovich Ruff says. "This person may not have cognitive impairment, they may just not be able to hear."

"The human ear has all the hair cells it will ever have from the day you were born," Pavlovich Ruff says. "Once you lose those cells, the loss is permanent. It can't be fixed."

Researchers are working on gene therapies to regrow the tiny hairs, inspired by how hair cells regenerate in some animals, such as zebrafish and chickens. But until then, the only offence is a good defence, Pavlovich Ruff says – protect what you have.

Concerts and headphone jam sessions

"Live music is usually amplified and is always too loud," Pavlovich Ruff says. At the volume many venues play, the cumulative load on your inner ear becomes damaging after just 10 or 15 minutes, she explains. "So if you want to stay for the whole concert, you should wear earplugs. But foam earplugs actually will distort the sound of the music."

Instead, look for "high-fidelity plugs" that will soften the sound without changing its character. "You can get some really decent high-fidelity plugs for $25 (£19) or less," Pavlovich Ruff says. Real music buffs may want to invest in custom musician's earplugs, she says, which cost about $175 (£133) and are fitted by audiologists.

The same goes for sporting events, as stadiums often pride themselves on the decibel level of their cheering fans. "I often see babies wearing hearing protection at sporting events, but the parents aren't," Pavlovich Ruff says. "What about your own ears? Don't you want to hear this baby when they're an adult?"

Still, most of us go to concerts and sporting events once in a blue moon. Instead, our main contact with music and loud sounds is through our headphones.

"Teens and young children are starting to experience hearing loss from listening to loud sound for too long," Pavlovich Ruff says. She recalls a six-year-old she recently treated in the clinic: although the family hadn't noticed any differences in her hearing, Pavlovich Ruff observed evidence of damage from the maxed-out volume on her school laptop.