You might think that if there were any changes to your hearing, you would pick up on it pretty quickly. However, that is often not the case. Sudden hearing loss is not the most common condition to experience. Usually, it’s a more gradual process due to the slow degradation of parts of your ear’s anatomy, be it due to age, exposure to excessive levels of noise or otherwise. That said, even during this gradual process, there might be signs and symptoms of changes to your hearing that are worth calling your audiologist over. Here, we’re going to look at some of those that you shouldn’t ignore.
Ringing in Your Ears
Tinnitus, often described as a ringing sensation in your ears, is often related to hearing loss. If you’re experiencing any ringing in your ears, or any other unexplained noises, like whooshing ringing, a high-pitched squeal, throbbing or otherwise, then you should get in touch with your audiologist. Even if it isn’t related to hearing loss, audiologists can also treat tinnitus, which can be a hassle to deal with alone.
Frequently Asking Others to Repeat Themselves
Sometimes, people don’t enunciate clearly enough or you might not be able to make out some words in their tone or accent. However, if this is happening to you, more and more, with a wider range of people, then it might not be the speech that’s unclear, it might be a sign that your hearing is starting to decline.
You Struggle to Hear Women and Children
Hearing loss can pose unique challenges in understanding women and children, primarily due to differences in pitch and frequency ranges between male and female voices. Women and children typically speak at higher pitches, and hearing loss often affects the ability to perceive sounds in these higher frequency ranges. Consequently, individuals with hearing impairment may struggle to catch the nuances and clarity of speech, making it particularly challenging to comprehend conversations with women and children.
Difficulty Hearing in Busy or Noisy Settings
One of the earliest signs of hearing loss is that crowded settings start to become much harder to hear in. Of course, high levels of background noise can be distracting for anyone. However, if even relatively calm crowds make it difficult to pick out and listen to individual voices, like in restaurants or bars, then this could be a sign of hearing loss.
You Keep Increasing the Volume
If something you’re trying to watch or listen to is too quiet, then turning it up is only natural. Nowadays, a lot of people find they have to turn on subtitles when watching streaming services simply because a lot of shows have their audio mixed for surround sound setups that you might not have. However, if you find that other people are complaining about the volume of the TV or radio, and ask you to turn it down, or they can hear it just fine at a lower volume than you, then this may be an indication of hearing loss.
You Avoid Social Interactions
When you begin to experience hearing loss, it can take a lot more energy and effort to listen to people actively, to better understand what they’re saying. You might find that going out for dinner with a group, attending parties or even just meeting people in a public setting can feel a lot more exhausting and stressful. Because of these challenges, you might even find yourself starting to avoid these situations, even unconsciously. If you’ve noticed this change in your behavior lately, hearing loss could be the reason.
Your Friends and Family Suspect Hearing Loss
A lot of the symptoms above might be difficult for one person alone to recognize. Especially in cases of mild hearing loss, the process can be so gradual that you don’t really notice it. However, if your friends and family are commenting on the various things mentioned above, like the volume of your TV, how often you ask people to repeat themselves or otherwise, then you should listen to them. There’s no harm in getting a hearing test to confirm one way or another.
Take the Next Steps
If any of the above signs or symptoms feel familiar to you, you should call an audiologist at your next convenience. Your audiologist can perform a hearing test to diagnose and begin to treat any hearing loss, ensuring an improvement in your quality of life. Get in touch with Two Rivers Hearing by calling (321) 499-2488. We can answer any of the questions you might have about your hearing and ear health.
