Hearing loss can happen for other reasons not related to aging or disease. Hearing loss can also be due to injury. From loud noises to head trauma, there is a wide range of injuries you can sustain that can cause you to develop a hearing impairment or suffer from hearing loss.

Dr Nikki, an ear specialist in Omaha, goes over the four most common injuries that can cause hearing loss.

1. Loud noises

Traumatic noises, or loud noises, can permanently alter your hearing capabilities depending on the extremity of the sound. Typically speaking, the human ear can handle 70 decibels safely, but once you get above that, you run the risk of causing hearing loss. How quickly a sound can affect your hearing depends on how loud it is. The louder a noise, the shorter amount of time it takes.

For example, the CDC states that after two hours of exposure to a loud motorcycle you could potentially damage your eardrum, but by standing next to a firecracker going off, you could immediately feel pain and damage your auditory system.

2. Air pressure changes

Commonly referred to as barotrauma, or airplane ear, this occurs when the pressure in the middle ear and the air pressure of the environment that you are in are not the same. This can cause severe pain, hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo, and more. It’s called airplane ear because this is when it most commonly occurs, but you can also develop barotrauma from scuba diving, hyperbaric chambers, or explosions.

While there are some simple remedies you can try to alleviate airplane ear, if your symptoms do not go away on their own, it's imperative that you see an ear specialist in Omaha right away. Otherwise, you can run the risk of permanently losing your hearing.

3. Ruptured eardrum

There’s a reason that no audiologist will tell you to clean your ear with a q-tip! Sticking anything in your ear is a big no-no, but especially q-tips because people tend to stick q-tips up further in their ear because they are under the impression that it’s safe or that they are just “cleaning” their ears. However, this can tear a hole in the tissue that separates your middle ear from your ear canal and can result in hearing loss and inner ear infections.

4. Physical head trauma

No one wants to get hit in the head for a myriad of reasons, but another reason to add to the list is hearing impairments. This can happen through brain damage to the areas of the brain responsible for sound processing, damage to your middle ear ossicles (the ear bones),  and more. Head trauma can cause temporary hearing loss, and it can also cause hypersensitivity to sound. If you get in a car crash, experience whiplash, or experience another event that causes your head to be put in harm's way, it can be beneficial to see an ear specialist in Omaha to make sure that your ears are safe.

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Dr Nikki is the best ear specialist in Omaha! If you’ve experienced hearing loss due to injury, she can help you with a personalized solution created so that you can continue your healthy and active lifestyle. Contact us today!