How Frequently Should You Have Your Ears Checked?

According to one recent survey, nearly 30% of people have gone more than ten years without getting a hearing test. Sofia is one of those people. She goes to her annual doctor's appointments, she visits a dentist every six months, and she has an oil change in her car every 3000 miles. But she hasn't had a hearing test in a long time.

There are many reasons why it's important to have hearing evaluations, the most prominent of which is that it's usually hard for you to discover the first signs of hearing loss without one. Sophia will be able to keep her hearing healthy for a lot longer by determining how frequently to get her hearing tested.

How Often Each Year Should my Ears Get Tested?

We may be alarmed if Sophia hadn't had a hearing test in a decade. Or perhaps we don't think anything of it. Depending on how old Sophia is, reactions may vary. This is because hearing professionals have different recommendations based on age.

• At least every three years, it's recommended that you have a hearing exam. There's no issue having your ears checked more frequently, of course! The bare minimum is every three years. If you are exposed to loud noise frequently or work in a field where noise is common, you should err on the side of getting tested more often. There's no reason not to do it, it's painless and simple.
• If you're older than fifty: The universal recommendation is that anybody over the age of fifty should undergo hearing checks yearly. Hearing loss is more likely to affect your life as you age because noise damage begins to add up. Plus, there are other health concerns that can affect your hearing.

When it comes to your hearing, more often is definitely better. Since you last had a hearing assessment, you might have new damage you should know about, so more frequent hearing tests might be practical.

You Should Get Your Hearing Checked if You Notice These Signs

There are certainly other times besides your annual hearing test that you may want to make an appointment with your hearing specialist. In some cases, you start to notice some signs of hearing loss. And in those instances, it's often a good plan to promptly get in touch with a hearing specialist and schedule a hearing test.

Some of the signs that might prompt you to get a hearing test could include:

• Listening to your favorite music at extremely high volumes.
• Having a hard time hearing consonants (generally speaking, consonants are spoken in a higher pitch than vowels, and it's those high-frequency sounds that are often the first to go as hearing loss takes hold)
• Phone conversations are always tough to understand
• When you're speaking with people, you repeatedly need to keep asking people to repeat themselves.
• Difficulty hearing discussions in loud situations.
• Your hearing is dull as if there is water in your ears.

A good indicator that right now is the best time to have a hearing exam is when the warning signs begin to add up. You need to recognize what's happening with your ears and that means having a hearing test sooner rather than later.

What Are The Benefits of Hearing Testing?

There are plenty of excuses why Sofia could be late in getting her hearing exam. Perhaps she hasn't thought about it. Maybe she's just avoiding dealing with it. But getting your hearing examined on the recommended schedule has tangible benefits.

And it will be simpler to identify hearing deviations in the future if you have your hearing examined by establishing a baseline reading even if it seems like everything is just fine. You can protect your hearing better if you detect it before it becomes a problem.

That's exactly why Sophia has to go to her scheduled hearing appointments before any permanent impairment happens. By detecting your hearing loss early, by having your hearing checked when you should, you'll be keeping your ears healthier longer. It's essential to understand how hearing loss will impact your general state of health.