The Link Between Allergies and Hearing Health

Each year in the United States, more than 100 million people experience allergies. When people consider allergic reactions, they tend to think of sneezing, coughing, and itchy eyes. However, there’s another connection to know about: allergies and hearing.

Allergic reactions and hearing loss are linked. As such, it’s imperative that people who suffer from allergies take steps to manage them so they can improve their hearing health. Learn more about the relationship between allergies and hearing health and what you can do about it.

How Allergies Affect Hearing Health

When you come into contact with an allergen, your body responds by producing antibodies that release histamine. This histamine release is what prompts the allergic response. You can experience itching, sneezing, and many other symptoms, along with a crucial one that impacts your hearing: fluid buildup.
Fluid buildup in the ear can lead to conductive hearing loss, which prevents sound waves from reaching the tiny bones in your middle ear. Allergic skin reactions can also cause inflammation, not allowing fluid to drain correctly. This can result in increased pressure and make it much easier for bacteria to grow and cause infections.

Common Allergy-Related Hearing Issues

The connection between allergies and hearing can result in a variety of issues that affect the different parts of your ear. Your outer ear could be affected by skin irritations that come as a result of an allergic reaction. It’s particularly common if you have a sensitivity toward certain types of jewelry materials, soaps, or even fabric softeners.

You may experience itching and a sensation of fullness in the ear. Some people can face swelling that is severe enough that it keeps the Eustachian tube from draining as it needs to. The Eustachian tube is in charge of equalizing pressure in the ears. If it can’t drain, fluid builds up and leads to the development of otitis media with effusion.

Otitis media with effusion involves fluid building up in the middle ear, increasing pressure. The fluid can make you feel dizzy or lightheaded and could even impact your balance. People who have Meniere’s disease can face flare-ups as a result of an allergic reaction, triggering dizzy spells, ringing in the ears, and muffled hearing.

If you wear a hearing aid, fluid buildup can also clog the microphone ports, degrading their function. Make sure to thoroughly clean or replace them if you find yourself having an allergic reaction.

Strategies for Managing Allergy-Related Hearing Issues

Managing your allergies is the best way of avoiding these kinds of hearing issues. Before you can take the necessary steps to mitigate your contact with allergens, however, you have to have a clear idea of what these are.

The best way to do this is by getting tested for allergies. These examinations are very thorough and make a difference in understanding what triggers your body’s allergic reactions.

Once you know what your triggers are, you can take steps to avoid them. That’s not always possible, of course, especially if you’re allergic to pollen, but you can still mitigate the effects. If, for example, you know the pollen count is going to be high on a particular day, spending less time outside can make a difference.

Medication can be an option for many people as well. There are over-the-counter drugs that you take once a day to help prevent allergic reactions. In more severe cases, you can turn to your doctor for stronger prescription options.

Lifestyle and Environmental Considerations

If you have allergies, you should consider making changes to your lifestyle or environment. Certain steps can help reduce the impact that allergens have on your life.

Many people don’t realize just how much impact food allergies have on overall health. Even if your food allergies are mild, you want to cut those foods out of your diet to avoid allergic reactions that could impact your hearing health.

There are things you can do to make your living environment safer for your sensitive immune system, including ensuring that you dust regularly. Wear a mask while you do so to avoid breathing in dust, pollen, and other debris. You also need to check air filters often, especially in the spring.

For many, adding an air purifier and even a humidifier can be a good way of minimizing allergens. And if you’re allergic to pet dander, avoid going to the homes of those who have pets, or consider wearing a mask if you do.

Allergic reactions aren’t possible to completely avoid, so it’s good to have a strategy of what to do when you experience one. Carry allergy medication with you, as well as nasal decongestants. A saline drip can be a good choice, too, as it helps you flush allergens from your nose.

It’s important that you don’t use cotton swabs or anything of the sort in your ears if you begin to experience fluid buildup or itchiness because of allergies. This could cause all manner of damage. Instead, you can press a warm, wrung-out washcloth to your ear. Remember to pat it dry afterward.

Seeking Professional Evaluation and Treatment

Experiencing hearing loss because of allergies can be frustrating and even frightening. By understanding that an allergic reaction could be a body-wide alarm that affects your entire hearing system, you can begin to take the necessary steps to manage your allergies.

It’s vital that you know what your triggers are and that you make the necessary changes to your lifestyle and environment to minimize your contact with them. And if you find that the allergies are getting worse and severely affecting your hearing, you should go to your primary care doctor and then your audiologist.

At Happy Ears, we have experience helping people with all manner of hearing problems, including those that allergic reactions cause. If you’re struggling with your hearing, don’t wait another moment. Contact us and come by one of our Happy Ears locations for a consultation.