The damage caused by everyday noise isn't always immediately obvious. Audiologist Karen Shepherd explains how four practical habits could help protect your hearing well into your 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond.
Most of us give our hearing remarkably little thought until something starts to change. We notice the volume creeping up on the television, find ourselves asking people to repeat themselves or struggle to follow a conversation in a busy restaurant.
Yet protecting your hearing isn’t something that needs to begin when those difficulties appear. Some of the most useful precautions can become part of everyday life decades earlier.
And for anyone in their 20s, that matters.
From headphones on the morning commute to nights out, exercise routines and everyday hygiene, seemingly ordinary habits can influence hearing health over time.
Karen Shepherd, an expert audiologist at Boots Hearingcare, recommends four practical approaches to reducing avoidable hearing risks and looking after your ears as you get older.
1. Turn down your headphones before your ears pay the price
Headphones have become almost inseparable from daily life. They’re there for commuting, exercising, working and unwinding, sometimes for hours at a time.
The problem isn’t necessarily the headphones themselves. It’s how loudly, and for how long, we use them.
Shepherd recommends following the 60/60 rule: limiting headphone listening to 60 minutes at a time at no more than 60% of the device’s maximum volume.
It’s a useful habit to encourage more considered listening, rather than a guarantee of safety at every volume setting.
One particular concern is listening in noisy surroundings. On a crowded train or walking alongside traffic, it’s tempting to increase the volume to compete with everything happening around you.
That adjustment might seem insignificant, but repeatedly exposing your ears to excessive sound can contribute to lasting hearing damage.
Being more conscious of listening volume and duration is a sensible place to start.
2. Don’t save earplugs exclusively for music festivals
A live concert or nightclub might be the obvious place to think about hearing protection, but potentially damaging noise isn’t confined to a night out.
Mowing the lawn, operating power tools and even regularly using a hairdryer can expose your ears to elevated noise levels.
Shepherd advises reducing excessive noise exposure wherever possible and wearing suitable hearing protection when loud sound is difficult to avoid.
The concern is what happens inside the ear.
Excessive noise can affect the delicate structures of the inner ear, sometimes causing temporary changes in hearing. In more serious cases, damage can become permanent, potentially resulting in irreversible hearing loss or tinnitus.
Crucially, you may not recognise the extent of that damage while it’s happening.
Earplugs are a relatively straightforward precaution for concerts, festivals, clubs and noisy jobs. Thinking ahead is considerably easier than dealing with hearing difficulties once they develop.
3. Look after your circulation as well as your ears
Hearing health isn’t entirely separate from the rest of your body.
Shepherd also highlights the importance of vascular health, recommending regular exercise, avoiding smoking and maintaining a balanced diet as part of a broader approach to healthy ageing.
The inner ear depends on adequate blood flow and carefully regulated conditions to function properly, making general cardiovascular wellbeing relevant to hearing health.
Nutrition forms part of that picture.
Foods such as bananas, fish and broccoli provide nutrients including potassium, omega-3 fatty acids and various vitamins. They’re useful components of a varied diet, although individual foods should not be regarded as treatments for hearing loss.
There is an important distinction here: no particular food or nutrient can reverse existing hearing damage.
Shepherd also suggests discussing nutritional supplements with a doctor or pharmacist before taking them, particularly when other medications are involved.
For most people, the practical message is familiar. The everyday choices that support wider health are also worth considering when looking after your ears.
4. Keep your ears dry, but leave the cotton buds alone
Hearing protection isn’t solely about what reaches your ears. It’s also about what gets trapped inside them.
Moisture left in the ear canal after swimming, showering or exercise can contribute to infections, including otitis externa, commonly known as swimmer’s ear.
In some circumstances, ear infections can cause hearing difficulties.
Shepherd recommends gently drying the external part of the ear after activities that leave it wet.
What she doesn’t recommend is inserting cotton buds or other objects into the ear canal.
If water feels trapped, tilting your head may help it escape. Gently moving your jaw or head can also encourage drainage.
For people who regularly experience trapped water, swimming earplugs may be worth considering.
Pain, itching, redness or swelling should not simply be dismissed as a bit of leftover water. These symptoms may require advice from a pharmacist or GP.
The aim is to keep your ears comfortable and dry without introducing another problem by trying to clean too deeply.
The hearing habit worth starting at any age
There is one further recommendation from Shepherd that sits alongside all four precautions: establish a baseline for your hearing.
Most adults recognise the value of dental appointments and eye examinations, yet hearing checks are easily overlooked, especially when there are no obvious problems.
Shepherd suggests monitoring hearing periodically, potentially using an online hearing check as an initial reference point.
Such checks shouldn’t replace professional assessment when difficulties arise.
Asking people to repeat themselves more frequently, increasing the television volume or finding conversations harder to follow in noisy places are all reasons to arrange a professional hearing test.
Identifying a change early provides an opportunity to understand the problem and consider appropriate support.
You cannot control every factor that affects hearing as you age. But paying attention to noise exposure, everyday listening habits, general health and ear care gives you some practical ways to reduce avoidable risks.
The useful thing about starting in your 20s is that these precautions don’t have to feel like a major lifestyle overhaul.
They can simply become the way you look after your hearing, long before you have a reason to miss it.
