Four Ways You Can Optimize Your Hearing in 2025

Although hearing at that level is reserved for the pages of comic books, have you considered just how beneficial it is to have an incredible sense of hearing? 

Think about it:  

• Better hearing allows you to stay engaged in the conversation going on around you without being distracted by background noise
• Better hearing allows you to stay connected and communicate better with those who mean the most to you 
• Better hearing means better balance, better memory, better mood, and a better quality of life 

When you combine all of these attributes, better hearing looks a lot like a superpower. 

While you might not reach Superman’s level, the team at ENT Consultants of East Tennessee has put together four ways you can optimize your hearing in 2025. 

#1—Protect Your Ears From Noise Damage

While age-related hearing loss is number one among all cases of hearing loss, noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is number two, and it can be prevented. 

Extreme noise and ongoing exposure to loud noise damages the hair cells of the inner ear, leading to permanent sensorineural hearing loss. 

While you can limit your exposure to loud noise, you can hardly crawl into a cave away from all noise and still enjoy a meaningful lifestyle.  

The use of hearing protection allows you to continue to participate in the world around you, participating in noisy work, noisy events and concerts, and noisy sports and hobbies. 

To optimize your hearing, make protecting your hearing from noise damage a number one priority in 2025. 

#2—Reduce Your Exposure to Ototoxins

Another major contributor to hearing challenges is ototoxicity. Ototoxicity refers to the damage to your hearing and vestibular system that occurs after exposure to certain medications or chemicals that affect the inner ear. 

Many drugs and chemicals are known to be ototoxic, including: 

• Aspirin  
• Quinine   
• Loop diuretics (e.g., Lasix)  
• Aminoglycoside antibiotics (e.g., gentamicin, neomycin, streptomycin, amikacin)  
• Chemotherapy (e.g., cisplatin, carboplatin) 

In addition, ongoing exposure to mercury, lead, and carbon monoxide, as well as various solvents, nitriles, and pesticides, can also damage your hearing. 

Guarding against ototoxicity involves understanding which ototoxic chemicals you are exposed to via the environment, cleaning supplies, and medications you use. 

To optimize your hearing in 2025 by reducing your ototoxic exposure, ask your healthcare provider to evaluate and prescribe alternative medications that are not ototoxic.  

#3—Monitor Your Hearing With Regular Hearing Assessments

You may not even realize you are experiencing a loss of hearing, because it has a way of sneaking up on you.  

Because of the negative health consequences that can result from untreated hearing loss, regular hearing tests are as important to your overall health as monitoring your blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglycerides. 

Fortunately, whether or not you are experiencing any of the signs of hearing loss, audiologists are available to conduct a hearing assessment for any person at any time. It’s a win-win, really, because even if your hearing test results show no hearing loss, you have baseline values against which you can measure future changes and detect hearing loss before it begins to interrupt your active lifestyle. 

If you want to optimize your hearing in 2025, schedule your first of many hearing assessments by following this link. 

#4—Use Hearing Aids or Assistive Listening Devices

For those with hearing challenges, hearing aids have been shown to improve balance and cognitive function as well as optimize their ability to communicate with others and stay engaged in the activities and conversations taking place in the world around them. 

Those with mild hearing challenges that don’t require hearing aids can make use of various assistive listening devices, like the Apple AirPods we discussed earlier this summer, and other devices that help you hear better during tours and conferences, while talking on the phone, or while watching TV. 

Are you looking to optimize your hearing in 2025?  

If you have hearing challenges, hearing aids and assistive listening devices can help keep you connected to the world around you. 

ENT Consultants of East Tennessee Is Here to Help