Tips: How to improve your hearing

Unfortunately age related hearing loss is a fact of life and the older we get the greater the loss increases. Currently half of the Australian population between 60 and 70 years of age have some form of hearing loss. When we reach the 70 to 80 age range there is an even bigger increase of 70 to 80 per cent. Here are some tips that might be able to help you hear a little clearer.

Talk face to face

The old saying goes women talk face to face and men talk side to side. Well, unfortunately men will need to take a leaf out of the women’s book now as talking face to face can greatly assist your ability to hear. Not only will the sound be directed at you, instead of next to you, watching the way someones mouth moves as they talk can help decipher wha they are saying if you are unsure.

Use the right ear for conversation and left for music

This seems whacky but apparently studies have revealed that our right ear is dominant for listening to verbal stimuli whereas the left responds to music better.

The right side is thought to better interoperate verbal information as a reflection of the let hemispheres superiority processing verbal information. This doesn’t just apply to humans it was also found to be true for rats, harpy eagles, Japanese macaques, sea lions and dogs.

So if you’re in a social situation try keeping the people to your right and the music to your left.

Sit with your back to the wall

When you’re out at a busy restaurant, or at home having a big family dinner, it can be difficult to hear over all the other voices. Try sitting with you back against the wall, this will stop the noise coming in from behind and might help you focus on the person talking in front of you.

Use your headphones

Talking on the phone in a busy shopping centre or roadside can often make it difficult to hear the person on the other line. Using headphones can really help! They work to direct the noise straight into your ear and also filter out any ambient noises you may be picking up that distracts or over powers the conversation. Most headphones these days have speakers in them too so all you need to do is plug them in and happily chat away. This makes it hands-free too which is helpful if you are carrying shopping bags or wanting to do some cleaning at home.

Keep your ears clean

Using a wax softener and remover can really help keep your ears clear. This means that nothing will be blocking your ear canal and stopping you from hearing properly. Don’t insert anything into your ear, just a few drops of an earwax remover should do the trick.

Have you noticed a deterioration in your hearing?

If none of these tips seem to be working for you it might be worth talking to a medical professional about hearing aids and how they may be able to help.