Hearing loss is caused by a lot of factors – genetic predisposition, aging, ear injury and damage, viral infections affecting the ears, meningitis, and acoustic tumors. Medical conditions like hypertension, diabetes, Ménière’s disease, and otosclerosis can also cause hearing loss. Ménière’s disease is an inner ear disorder that causes hearing loss, tinnitus, dizziness, and imbalance. Otosclerosis is an abnormal bone growth inside the middle ear.
But did you know though common things can also cause that hearing loss?
#1 – Airbags
In an accident, airbags do save lives. However, its deployment increases your risk of developing traumatic sensorineural hearing loss.
For an airbag to deploy during a car collision, there should be a rapid inflation of the airbag. This is caused by the generation of gas that rapidly fills up the bag and inflates it to cushion the passenger’s upper body and stop his momentum.
Unfortunately, this rapid inflation causes a brief but very loud and intense sound wave which spreads inside the vehicle. Reaching 150 to 170 decibels, this intense sound wave causes the tiny sensory hair cells inside the inner ear to bend and flatten themselves against the fluid. The sound waves damage them and cause tinnitus and/or hearing loss.
#2 – Q-Tips
Q-Tips are meant to clean just the outer ear and remove any earwax buildup that may be clogging up the outermost portion of the ear canal. They’re never meant to actually go inside the ear canal and rid it of its beneficial earwax.
Sticking a Q-Tip deep into your ear can cause a variety of ear problems that increase your risk of developing hearing loss. Not only can it rupture your eardrum and affect the way it normally functions, but it can also strip your ears of earwax.
Earwax is very important to your ear’s health. It traps foreign materials like dust and dirt from getting into your ears. It also lubricates your ears and prevents it from drying out. Removing your earwax removes this protection, making them dry and itchy and increasing your risk for ear infections.
Finally, Q-Tips can actually push your earwax deeper into your ears and cause impacted earwax. This can lead to earwax buildup, temporary hearing loss, temporary tinnitus, as well as ear irritation, pain, and infection.
Hearing problems caused by Q-Tips is actually preventable, so be gentle to your ears.
