1of1 Custom joins the American Academy of Audiology in recognizing the month of May as National Better Hearing Month. This is an annual month-long opportunity to raise awareness on hearing loss, offer tips for prevention and recognize the early signs of noise induced hearing damage.

Noise induced hearing loss affects millions of Americans ages 20-69. Exposure to damaging noise levels is a daily occurrence especially if you work in a loud industry such as music, manufacturing or construction. If your lifestyle includes a loud hobby such as boating, motorcycles, shooting, going out to see live music or enjoying dance clubs, your ears may never get a break.

A silver lining of our COVID downtime is that our ears are getting break from the noise. As the world turns back on, here are 3 habits to help keep your hearing healthy:

Give your ears a daily break from the noise

Don't just rest your ears when you sleep. Dedicate a few hours each day to resting your ears from headphones, car stereos and other noisy environments. Recognize when you’ve had long periods of exposure to noise and turn the volume down and distance yourself from the loudness.

Have your hearing checked annually

This establishes a baseline for your hearing so that you can monitor changes as they happen. Hearing loss doesn’t happen all at once and a hearing test will help to identify when loss begins to happen.

Understand sound levels and wear hearing protection when needed (which is anything over 85dB)

Sound meter apps are free and available for smart phones and can help you determine when you need to put in some earplugs. Hearing protection is available that sounds great and gives you proper protection from those harmful frequencies.