The summer season welcomes some of the best annual events in Cerritos and Los Angeles county – but with these events comes unexpected hearing hazards. It’s important to remember to keep your hearing health in mind even when it comes to summer fun. Without skipping out on the best summer events in southern California, these three clever hearing hacks keep you and your hearing safe while enjoying the summer sun.
High Fidelity Ear Plugs
The summer is a great time for outdoor music events in sunny southern California. But with any music event comes lots of noise – noise that can have a permanent negative effect on your hearing! If standing a safe distance from the speakers isn’t an option, there’s one great way to protect your hearing while still enjoying the show.
It sounds strange to suggest ear plugs for concerts, but certain earplugs can protect your hearing without diminishing the quality of sound you enjoy. These are called ‘high fidelity’ ear plugs, which are specially designed to cut down on harmful frequencies without diminishing sound quality.
Depending on your budget, you can easily buy high fidelity earplugs online. The most popular brands for high fidelity earplugs include Etymotic, Eargasm and Hearos.
Hearing-Friendly Headphones
Summer sun means more time for the outdoors. If you’re hiking or exercising outside, you’ll probably bring along a pair of headphones and a music player with a great summer playlist. Problem is, even if some time outdoors is great for fitness, your headphones are not so great for your hearing.
Many headphones (especially in-ear headphones) can damage your hearing over time, especially if you’re playing your music on full blast. Thankfully, plenty of hearing aids are designed to protect your hearing while still promising great sound.
One of our favourites are the V-Moda Over-Ear Noise Isolating Headphones, which combines the more hearing-friendly over-ear design with technology to cut out background noise so you can keep volume lower. For more active types, try AfterShokz Bluez Open Ear Wireless Headphones. These use a cool technology called ‘bone conduction’ to pass sound through the bones just behind your ear instead of in your ear.
Protecting Your Ears in the Water
There are lots of things connected to hearing loss – but one that is often overlooked is an ear infection. Ear infections can cause permanent damage to hearing if not treated or prevented, and the summer months means you’re at higher risk for infections. Why? Because during the summer, swimming and water sports means we’re at higher risk of getting water in our ears, which can cause ear infections.
Though earplugs seem like a great way to prevent water in ears, these are actually likely to irritate the ear canal. Instead, swimmers should make a point to rid their ears of excess water after swimming by tilting their head far to the side to allow water to escape. For even better results, we recommend putting a hair dryer on low and holding it about a foot from the ear.
Even with the very best protections against summertime hearing hazards, the best way to prevent hearing loss is to pay attention to changes in your hearing. If you are noticing changes in your hearing – like difficulty talking on the phone, understanding speech or ringing in your ears – talk to our hearing professionals.
A hearing test is an easy and quick way to diagnose hearing loss early and get the treatment you need. Contact us for a hearing test this summer and take control of your hearing health!
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