Hearing care

For many people, hearing is something they take for granted. But imagine what it's like when your hearing suddenly gets worse and at some point you can no longer hear as well, or even at all?

Most people are not aware that hearing loss can affect anyone. This makes it all the more important to focus more attention on the topic of hearing care.

What does hearing care mean?

Der Begriff Vorsorge bezeichnet im Allgemeinen alle Maßnahmen, die dazu führen können, Krankheiten zu verhindern oder dass diese sich verschlimmern. Die Hörvorsorge umfasst also zum Beispiel Handlungen und Strategien zur Prävention, Erkennung sowie zur Therapie von Hörproblemen. Dazu gehören unter anderem das Vermeiden von und der Schutz vor Lärm, der Schutz vor anderen äußeren Einflüssen wie Wasser oder Schmutz, regelmäßig professionelle Hörtests zur Überprüfung des Hörvermögens, Aufklärung und Beratung, zum Beispiel durch Beratungsstellen, Ärzte und Hörakustiker, unterstützende Maßnahmen wie Hörtrainigs oder Audiotherapien sowie gegebenenfalls die ärztliche Behandlung, Operationen etc.

Take hearing care seriously! Why is hearing care so important?

Our hearing is one of our most important sensory organs, as it enables us to communicate with other people, pick up information, for example on the television or radio, warns us in dangerous situations, for example in traffic, by hearing warning signals and certain noises, and also allows us to perceive the beauty of our surroundings, from birdsong to music.

In short, good hearing has a decisive influence on our general quality of life. And that's why we should protect it.

Tips for hearing care: what you can do yourself

As already mentioned, hearing care includes various measures and strategies for the prevention and treatment of hearing problems. We would like to introduce you to a few of them below:

Protection from noise

Ideally, you should avoid noise as much as possible. This includes, for example, loud machines or tools that are used regularly, engine noise, but also music or other noisy environments. If avoidance is not possible, you should wear suitable hearing protection, especially if you are constantly exposed to noise.

Protection from external influences

In addition to noise, there are other external influences that can damage our hearing. These include, for example, water that can get into the ear when showering, swimming, diving or doing water sports, or dirt and dust, for example when working on a construction site. Various earplugs are suitable for protection against these factors.

Professional hearing tests

Older adults in particular should have their hearing tested regularly by an ENT specialist or hearing care professional. You can read more about hearing tests below.

Information and advice

Whether due to age or illness, hearing loss can affect anyone. For this reason, education is an important means of prevention. Because only if you recognize hearing problems can they be treated. You can get advice from your doctor, a hearing aid acoustician or at special advice centers. There is also a lot of information on the subject on the Internet, for example in the faller audio guide.

Hearing training and audiotherapy 

Professional hearing training and audio therapy can help to restore and gradually improve hearing ability after hearing loss. Specialists for audio therapy can be, for example, ENT doctors, speech therapists or hearing aid acousticians.

Medical help

As soon as you notice hearing loss or even hearing loss, you should always seek medical advice.
Ear, nose and throat specialists are the right people to contact in this case. They can diagnose the causes of the hearing problems and determine the appropriate treatment.

How often should I have hearing tests for hearing care and where?

As hearing is one of our most important abilities, our hearing should be checked regularly. Newborns' hearing ability is therefore checked 24 to 48 hours after birth as part of the U1 examination. This hearing test is also known as newborn screening. If a child shows abnormalities in this test, a further test is usually carried out a few days or weeks later.

Regular hearing tests are recommended for infants and children every few years. However, as soon as you notice that your child has problems hearing or understanding, asks questions frequently or shows abnormalities in language development, you should have a hearing test or an examination by an ENT specialist.

For healthy adults, regular hearing tests are recommended every 5 to 10 years. However, as the risk of age-related hearing loss increases with age age-related hearing loss increases with age, adults over the age of 50 should have a professional hearing test every year so that hearing loss can be detected early and treated if necessary.

As soon as you have hearing problems, for example hearing problems with background noiseor hearing loss, you should not wait and instead have a hearing test carried out immediately.

Hearing aid wearers should also regularly check whether their hearing aids are still optimally adapted to their needs, i.e. to their hearing ability, or whether they may need to be adjusted.

If you would like to get a first impression of your hearing, you can do so now with our free online hearing test to do so.

Focus on hearing care: World Hearing Day

Hard to believe, but true: more than 1 billion people worldwide are affected by hearing loss. And although basically everyone could develop hearing problems in the course of their lives, the topic of hearing care is still far from having reached the general public.

To change this, the World Health Organization launched the first "World Hearing Day" in 2007, also known as "World Hearing Day", which is celebrated every year on March 3.

It is a day of action that serves to provide information and advice and offers those affected, relatives and interested parties a wide range of information, lectures and online offers on the topics of hearing loss and hearing loss as well as their prevention and treatment.