The working title of this article was “five ways to save your marriage” which we thought was a tad overpromising. We can’t fix broken marriages. But we strongly believe hearing and communicating is fundamental to relationships.

It is no surprise that significant others are the first to notice hearing loss, and push force suggest that action may be needed.

Here are five things you can implement today to save your hearing:

1. Have a hearing test. There are many medical conditions which can be treated, potentially saving lots of time and stress on your relationships with friends and family. Warning signs are mostly acute – a sudden drop in hearing or sudden loss of clarity. Sometimes, they are ambiguous, like tinnitus (ringing in the ears) in one ear only. Listen to your husband or wife – at least have a test so any problems can be sorted.

2. Use hearing protection. There are many kinds. The maximum attenuation is generally about 40dB, so no earplug will completely block out all sound. This is because sound passes through the bones in the skull, not only the ear. Foam earplugs are fine for most people.For the musicians, there are customised earplugs costing a few hundred dollars which will save your hearing but also maintain the natural spectrum of sound. They have replaceable filters with different strengths. For classical muso’s, try the ER9’s which give a small amount of protection but still allow sound to come through naturally. Yes music will be softer, but it will maintain the intensity of top end frequencies. The compromise is worth it long term. For drummers or amplified instruments, choose the ER25’s, the strongest attenuator. sells customised musician’s earplugs.

3. Lipread as much as possible. Practice it. Practice listening in challenging environments. It’s okay to miss a few words, as long as you can fill in the gaps. Avoid dark corners in restaurants so you have the light to assist with lipreading. Avoid noisy cafés and restaurants. Avoid the dinner time rush, instead dine out at lunch when it is quieter.

4. Update your hearing aids. Hearing aid technology is getting better and better. The old dinosaurs that your aunty used to wear and whistled constantly were probably too old, too poorly tuned and too damaged to work well. Hearing aids don’t last forever and if they are more than five years old there may be a better option for you. Technology moves fast; modern hearing aids are practically invisible and can provide better than average hearing in some cases. Whilst nothing completely restores hearing, modern hearing aids focus on speech discrimination instead of noise.

5. Assess your TV’s audio system. If you struggle to clearly hear the television, look at the setup. Many budget LCD TV speakers are cheap, face backwards and it’s difficult to obtain high fidelity sound. Even if you get a good brand of TV, the display might be good but the speakers can be an afterthought. This introduces distortion and poor clarity. Get a sound bar which reverses the sound direction. If you television is too old, look at an upgrade. Consider sennheiser or Bose wireless TV headphones, distortion free and good quality headphones which block out noises from the kitchen or open plan living space.