In the world of high-stakes work, people need to be able to rely on most (if not all) of their senses to ensure that errors are kept to an absolute minimum. We already know that hearing is one of the most important senses in the human anatomy, which makes it all the more important to take care of our ears and our hearing as best as we can.

Hearing and eyesight are the two most important senses we rely on, which means they should be the ones that we take care of the most, especially when working in a high-stakes environment. In this blog, we’re going to take a look at a few reasons why hearing is crucial in high stakes jobs, as well as explore a few ways you can take better care of your hearing.

The importance of hearing in high-stakes environments

When you’re working in a high-stakes environment, for example as a pilot, you can’t afford to lose any sense of your hearing. Above all else, a pilot’s number one responsibility is to take care of their passengers; losing their sense of hearing at any intensity can hinder their ability to do their job and essentially put their passengers at risk.

For example: if a pilot were to go temporarily deaf for a few seconds during a landing sequence, they might miss important information that is relayed to them from the air traffic control tower. This information could be as important as alerting the pilot to slightly alter their course so as to avoid a possible collision with another plane.

This is one of the reasons that co-pilots are so crucial in the aviation transport industry; regardless, even a temporary loss of hearing could prove to be catastrophic for the pilot, their passengers, as well as anyone else put in harm’s way.

This logic applies to pretty much every profession where one or a few individuals are responsible for the safety of a number of people, or a number of high-value items. Whether it be driving, sailing, or even stock trading, hearing is an essential sense to have when the stakes are high.

How to take better care of your hearing

Taking care of your ears and your hearing isn’t complicated. There are many ways you can protect your ears from loud noises, infections, or other types of damaging factors, Such as:

• Using earplugs – if you’re working in an environment that is drowned in loud noises (like factories or night clubs), you should keep your ears plugged (at the very least partially) when you don’t have much need for crystal-clear hearing.
• Keep the volume as low as possible – when your favorite song comes on, you should try to resist the urge to turn up the volume to immerse yourself in the music, especially if you’re using ear/headphones.
• Keep your ears dry – moisture in the ears creates a perfect breeding ground for bacteria to wreak havoc in the ear, thus leading to viscous infections. Keep your ears dry!
• Get some exercise – fun fact: exercise (especially cardio) helps to pump more blood throughout the body. Regarding your ears, better blood flow means that the internal parts of the ear retain their health and operate with maximum efficiency.

If you suspect that you may be experiencing an onset of hearing loss, we urge you to contact your nearest Audiologist as soon as you can. Or book an appointment with us.