How to Spot the Early Signs of Hearing Loss

You may think hearing loss should be simple to identify, but it’s not as easy to recognize as you may think.

To start, most people with hearing loss have problems only with certain sounds and in specific situations. And so, if you can hear normally on some occasions, you’ll be inclined to blame other factors or other people for the times you do have difficulty hearing.

Second, hearing loss arises slowly as time goes by, so it’s challenging to notice the slow progression. It’s more convenient to find fault with other people for mumbling, or to turn up the TV volume a little higher, than to acknowledge that you may possibly have hearing loss.

So, the signs and symptoms can be subtle. You need to know what to watch for, and although it’s convenient to reject that you have hearing loss, you should be honest with yourself about the warning signs.

Here are the top 10 to watch out for. If you recognize any, it may be time to arrange a hearing exam.

1. You experience ringing or buzzing in the ears – this may be a symptom of permanent hearing damage. Hearing aids can not only cause you to hear better, but they may also have the ability to eliminate the ringing in your ears.
2. You can’t hear regular household sounds – hearing loss can make it hard to hear the doorbell, the telephone ringing, or a friend calling your name from another room.
3. You have trouble understanding TV dialogue – speech is commonly a lot more difficult to hear than other types of sound. This frequently manifests itself as difficulty following movie or television show plots.
4. You have your cellphone, TV, or radio at max volume – if you can hear the TV, phone, or radio better than you can hear face-to-face discussions, check out the volume settings on your technology. You might have these devices set at elevated volumes while also thinking that everyone else speaks too quietly.
5. You ask people to repeat themselves frequently – you realize that you say “what?” a lot, or that you need to ask people to repeat themselves when you’re not facing them.
6. You commonly misinterpret what people are saying – consonants are higher-pitched, and therefore much more difficult to hear, than the lower-pitched vowels. Given that consonants convey most of the meaning in a sentence, speech comprehension suffers.
7. You have trouble hearing all the words in a conversation – particular sounds and letters are more challenging to hear than others. This means you can hear most of the words in a sentence, but that you have to frequently try to fill in the blanks.
8. You have trouble hearing when your back is to the speaker – you may be dependent on lip reading, body language, and other hints to meaning significantly more than you think. When you’re not facing the speaker, and can’t use these hints, you may have trouble understanding speech.
9. You have difficulty hearing with lots of background noise – as hearing loss gets to be worse, contending noise becomes more of a challenge. You may be able to hear speech in quiet environments, but it becomes increasingly difficult to follow discussions in a boisterous environment like a restaurant.
10. People say that you shout or have the TV volume too loud – people may comment that you have the TV volume too loud or that you have the proclivity to yell. It doesn’t seem this way to you because you’re compensating for your hearing loss.

Do you notice one or more of the top 10 warning signs of hearing loss? If yes, arrange your hearing test today, and take the steps to begin living a better, more productive, and healthier life.