7 Ways to Preserve Hearing When You Already Have Hearing Loss

2. Keep in touch with your hearing care providers.

Clare M. Villanueva, an audiologist affiliated with NYU Langone Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, recommends that hearing aid wearers see their hearing specialists at least once a year — sooner, if necessary — for a reevaluation of their hearing needs.

“Hearing aids might need to be adjusted, especially if the hearing care provider does another hearing test and finds the results differ from earlier ones,” Villanueva says. The hearing care provider might also determine that the hearing aids need servicing or should be replaced.

Over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids became available in 2022 for those with mild to moderate hearing loss. They tend to be much less expensive than prescription hearing aids. If you are using over-the-counter hearing aids, follow the manufacturer’s recommendations about the possible need for adjustments. You also may need to contact an audiologist to have your hearing aids adjusted.

3. Use protective earmuffs.

Earmuffs like the ones worn by airport workers on the tarmac can be helpful for protecting your hearing during trying situations — concerts, busy airports, planes or trains or subways, and even when you or a neighbor mows the lawn or uses power tools. (Furry earmuffs will keep your ears warm, but you need the ones designed to cancel out harmful noise.)

Be aware that noise-canceling headphones are not earmuffs and should not be used in their place. Earmuffs, which cover the ear completely, can cost from less than $20 up to hundreds of dollars depending on their noise reduction rating (NRR), which represents the average decibels of sound it can reduce if worn properly. “The higher the NRR the better. Look for an NRR of around 30 dB. You always see airport workers and often construction workers wearing them to preserve their hearing,” Rout says. If you wear hearing aids, “remove them when using the earmuff,” he says.

The reasoning for this is twofold. First, if you wear an earmuff over the hearing aid, there is a greater likelihood of hearing audible feedback (squealing). Second, in loud environments, for example when lawn mowers are used and at construction sites, hearing aids are not effective in amplifying speech over the noise, Rout says.

4. Keep ear protection, such as earplugs, in your purse or pocket.

For those times when noise becomes uncomfortable or unbearable — such as on a subway, at a ballgame or in an amusement park — take out your hearing aids and use foam or silicon earplugs to reduce the noise. Inexpensive ones are available at drugstores. Another option is to use more expensive noise-reducing earplugs, which many musicians use. If you’ve been to a live concert recently and up close to the stage, you might notice that most of the musicians wear ear protection.

5. Reduce the volume on your headphones.

Do you really need to have music blasting in your ears to enjoy it?

Villanueva recommends “reducing the volume on your iPods or other listening devices and using them for short amounts of time. Find the lowest, most comfortable sound setting on your device. Be aware a specific setting on one device is not necessarily the same on another device.”

6. Check your medications.

Check with your health care provider to see if any of the medications you are prescribed can cause hearing loss (if they are ototoxic). These can include some antibiotics as well as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), diuretics and chemotherapeutic agents. Ask of other drugs might be prescribed instead.

If you have a sudden change in your hearing, see an otolaryngologist, often known as an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist, as soon as possible, Villanueva says.

(See: 8 Medications That Can Harm Your Hearing)

7. Make sure you don’t have too much earwax.

One common cause of increased hearing loss is simple earwax, according to Sreekant Cherukuri, M.D., an ear, nose and throat specialist at St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart, Indiana.

“As we age, earwax gets dryer and harder, so it can easily build up without our knowing it and cause some hearing loss,” he says. 

The use of hearing aids or earplugs also can push earwax down the ear canal.

Cherukuri recommends cleaning your ears regularly with an over-the-counter ear wash system — not Q-tips — and having your physician or health care provider “look in your ears and check for wax buildup at your next checkup.”

(See: The Ins and Outs of Safe Earwax Removal)