8 Signs of Hearing Loss You May Be Ignoring

Hearing loss is exclusively an issue for older people, right?

Not quite. While it’s true that your odds of acquiring hearing loss increase with age, you can, in fact, develop hearing loss at any age.

As indicated by the NIDCD, 26 million Americans age 20 to 69 have high-frequency hearing loss from direct exposure to loud sounds at work and during leisure activities. And that includes 1 in 14 generation Xers, age 29-40, who already have hearing loss.

Considering that hearing loss can strike at any age, it’s vital to recognize the indicators as they’re notoriously subtle and tough to perceive.

Here are 8 silent signs of hearing loss that should prompt you to book a hearing test.

1. Ringing in the ears

Have you ever arrived home from a deafening concert and observed a ringing or buzzing in your ears?

If that’s the case, that means you’ve damaged the nerve cells of hearing in your inner ear. If it’s only happened a few times, the damage is more than likely temporary and trivial. However, continued exposure or one-time exposure to very loud sounds could generate permanent damage and hearing loss.

If you continue to hear ringing in your ears, you should arrange a hearing test as this is one of the initial signs of hearing problems. And if passing up upcoming live shows is not an option for you, your hearing professional can help you prevent further injury with custom-fit earplugs.

2. Balance issues

Your hearing and balance are intricately interconnected. In fact, a large part of your ability to remain balanced is due to elaborate structures within the inner ear.

If you find that you’ve been more clumsy as of late, the problem may actually be with your ears. In fact, a study by Johns Hopkins University found that those with hearing loss were three times more likely to have a history of falling, depending on the degree of hearing loss.

3. Memory impairment

Your short-term or working memory is rather limited, able to cope with only a few items for a short time frame. That means you don’t have time to get caught up on missed words during fast-moving conversations.

With hearing loss, speech comprehension is compromised as you can completely miss or misinterpret the speaker’s words or statement. This manifests later when you can’t call to mind important information.

4. Painful sounds

With hearing loss, you may become excessively sensitive to particular sounds, to the point where they cause pain or discomfort.

The technical term for this is hyperacusis, and you’ll want to talk with a hearing professional if the problem persists or becomes intolerable.

5. Listening fatigue

Think of spending the day attempting to figure out meaning from half-heard words and sentences and responding to questions you didn’t fully hear. That amount of attention can wear you out quickly.

If you discover that you’re excessively fatigued at the end of the day, hearing loss may be to blame.

6. Trouble hearing in groups

Early stage hearing loss usually doesn’t present itself during one-on-one discussions or in tranquil environments. More commonly, hearing loss only becomes a problem in the presence of background noise or in group situations.

7. Not hearing calls or alarms

Hearing loss is very often difficult to notice or detect as it grows incrementally each year. Oftentimes, friends and family members will notice the hearing loss prior to the person suffering from it does.

But there are some subtle warning signs you can look out for, including the inability to hear alarms or phone calls, the doorbell, or the television at normal volume.

8. Trouble hearing movie dialogue

With hearing loss, you may have particular trouble hearing the dialogue in shows and movies. That’s because most instances of hearing loss affect high-frequency sounds to the highest degree, and speech is a high-frequency sound.

It’s never too soon to attend to your hearing health. If you experience any of these symptoms, schedule an appointment with your local hearing care professional.