Are earplugs helpful or a hindrance to a good night’s sleep? Here are the benefits plus the risks.
Human beings need at least water, food, and sleep to stay alive. A good night’s rest is particularly crucial to maintaining good health, more than one might realize. The quality of one’s sleep is just as important as how long one sleeps. Many on the Internet are wondering whether wearing earplugs to sleep regularly cause tinnitus or hearing loss. Do earplugs help or hinder sleep? Here are the benefits and the risks that earplugs pose.
How Earplugs Help Sleep
If you are a light sleeper, it might be a nuisance to try falling asleep with loud noises around, such as road traffic or a snoring partner. It might be too easy for you to wake up in the middle of the night because of one small sound. These factors can reduce the quality of one’s sleep, limiting how deep a sleep one can get. A lack of deep sleep can increase one’s risk of high blood pressure, low immunity, depression, stroke, and heart attacks. Limiting the noise via earplugs is one easy and effective way to help one achieve a healthier night’s rest.
Risks of Regular Earplug Use
Wearing earplugs every night does come with some risk, however, which can be mitigated through proper hygiene. Regular earplug use can possibly push earwax further back into the ear, causing tinnitus, conductive hearing loss, and earwax buildup. If it gets bad enough, one will need professional earwax removal to safely unblock the ear. Thankfully, one can easily avoid this problem by regularly cleaning your ears.
Earplug usage can also cause ear infections, in which case it will be impossible to wear them at night. Earplugs can block airflow into your ear, creating a moist environment for bacteria to develop. Once again, keeping your ears clean should be the solution.
Some ask whether or not earplugs can cause tinnitus. Tinnitus can be a whistling, a whooshing, a ringing, or a buzzing sound in the ear. It has many different causes, including a TBI, hearing loss, ear infection, earwax buildup, and much more. Earplugs might isolate the ringing noise, making it seem prominent, but they cannot cause true tinnitus and hearing loss on their own.
Are Custom Earplugs Right for You?
One can use temporary earplugs made of foam, wax, or silicone, but investing in custom earplugs is more cost-effective at the end of the day. If you need a long-lasting solution made to work, Clarity Audiology has a custom solution for you!
Trust the Experts at Clarity Audiology & Hearing Solutions
Need help with your hearing? Clarity Hearing can help. Clarity Audiology & Hearing Solutions is an independently owned and operated clinic that focuses on quality of care and personalized, friendly service to the surrounding areas of Ellicott City, Catonsville, Columbia. Our Doctors of Audiology are highly trained with advanced degrees and take the time to provide the personalized care and attention that you need and deserve. We provide advanced hearing aid options that are personally calibrated with cutting-edge digital technology to fit your hearing loss, your unique ear anatomy, and your individual listening needs.
You can call us today to schedule a FREE Hearing Protection Consultation at 410-698-6594! For more blog posts, news, and updates, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.