You don’t need an expensive gym membership to get in shape, especially when you want to exercise your ears. Below are our recommendations for exercises that promote hearing health to do alone or with a partner.
Practice Conversations
This exercise is best completed with a partner. While in the safety of your own home, you can mimic a noisy situation by turning on the television or radio. Then, try to have a conversation with your partner in the noisy room. You should be trying to focus on the conversation and tuning out the distracting background noise.
Determine Sound Direction
While standing in the center of the room, close your eyes while your partner moves to another area and begins making noise. It is your job to try to identify where they are standing and how far away they are. Bonus points if you can identify the source of the noise.
Meditation
According to a 2016 study published in Hearing Review, “Meditation has been shown to cause physiological and neurological changes in the body, and helps enhance a wide spectrum of cognitive processes and self-regulation abilities.” This means that in addition to helping to improve your ability to focus, medication may also improve blood flow, which can be beneficial for your hearing health.
Why not use this information and plan an afternoon at Mt. Tabor Park to simply sit quietly in nature.
Sound Isolation
You can help work your brain by completing this active listening exercise. You’ll need to find a place to sit and close your eyes. While sitting there, try to identify as many sounds as you can hear. In order to do this, you’ll have to focus your attention and isolate each sound.
Singing
In addition to being a fun activity, signing can help improve your ability to distinguish speech when in a noisy environment. A 2019 study found that those with age-related hearing loss can improve their speech-in-noise perception through singing.
Conventional Exercise
Getting your body moving by running or doing another cardio activity can help increase your blood flow, which can improve your hearing health.
To learn more about improving the health of your ears or to schedule an appointment with a hearing expert, contact Mt. Hood ENT.