There are a lot of things to love about winter, from spending snowy days curled up in a blanket to drinking a piping hot peppermint latte from Drip City. While you’re planning out all your winter fun, don’t forget to think about how your hearing health fits into the schedule.
Noisy winter activities like holiday parties, snowmobiling and New Year’s fireworks displays can put your hearing at risk. Let’s take a look at a few ways to enjoy all the fun winter brings, without the hearing damage.
Invest in Hearing Protection
If you frequently engage in noisy winter activities, consider wearing earplugs or earmuffs. These reduce the intensity of sound reaching your ears, lowering your risk of hearing damage.
There are a couple of different options to choose from:
- Foam earplugs: best for one-time use
- Shallow silicone earplugs: best for mild noise exposure and wearing during sleep
- High-fidelity earplugs: best for music lovers
- Earmuffs: best for snow blowing
Limit Exposure
If you’re at a loud holiday party or you’ve been blasting festive music through your headphones, take a five-minute break now and then to give your ears time to rest.
Lower the Volume
If you’re throwing a party or listening to music, lower the volume below 85 dB (the threshold for hearing loss). You’ll protect your hearing and leave room for conversation.
Schedule a Hearing Checkup
As much as it’s nice to stay warm inside your home during the winter, it’s important not to miss your hearing appointments. Regular hearing checkups are crucial for maintaining healthy ears. Even if you don’t notice signs of hearing loss, like muffled voices or turning up the radio higher than usual, a hearing test is a good idea.
Think of it like scheduling regular appointments with your primary care physician. You don’t only do it when you’re sick. You do it so they have a baseline to measure any future illness against. Hearing tests work the same way. By establishing your hearing abilities early on, we can identify small hearing changes before they become significant problems.