Many people do not know they have hearing loss. Believe it or not the symptoms of hearing loss aren’t always the same as what many believe deafness to be. Lots of people suffer milder forms of hearing loss and are simply unaware of the problem. In other words, hearing loss is affecting their lives but they do not realise it’s hearing loss that is the problem.
Action on hearing loss reports that only around 40% of people who need (hyperlink) hearing aids have them. More worrying, is that those who are in the early stages of hearing loss will wait an almost a decade before having their hearing checked, allowing the problem to worsen.
This doesn’t have to be you. There is now an abundance of information to help us understand the early signs of hearing loss.
Let’s look at 5 signs you may need a Hearing Test:
You’re always asking others to repeat themselves.
Is this you? Are you always asking someone to repeat what they have just said?
When someone is speaking to you, do you find yourself thinking they are mumbling, or too far away, or you weren’t really listening?
If you find this happening to you often, it may be that you are experiencing hearing loss.
Most people will speak at a level that we can hear easily, so if you’re struggling to hear them, chances are that using a hearing aid, or even something as simple as cleaning out ear wax, will provide a quick fix to your hearing problem.
Struggling to hold a conversation in noisy places.
Picture the scene:
You’re in a restaurant or bar, or on public transport. It’s loud, noisy and it’s hard to hear yourself think let alone talk. Your friends and family are all happily chatting away, and you cannot hear what is being said or feel that the noise is too loud to hold a conversation, so you sit back and stay quiet.
When you have hearing loss, it becomes much more difficult for your ear to filter out certain noises and pieces of information. Different sounds will blur into one and it becomes difficult or near impossible to differentiate between the noises in the room. The fact your friends and family can hold a conversation in a noisy room isn’t because they have supersonic hearing skills, it’s just that their ear health is better than yours. They can filter out the noises and focus on the right sounds, the sounds of voices.
If you are struggling with noisy environments, it’s time to book in for a hearing test. Treatments such as hearing aids can help improve your ability to separate out sounds in your environment and be able to join in those conversations you miss out on when in noisy venues.
Do you have a persistent ringing in your ears?
Ringing in your ears, otherwise known as Tinnitus is the sensation of noises in the head and/or ears which have no external source and about 1 in 3 people will experience tinnitus at some point in their lives.
Tinnitus can be very loud or can be barely noticeable and is often more pronounced when you are in environment with little or no background noise. In some cases, tinnitus can have a huge impact on your quality of life, possibly affecting your ability to concentrate or fall asleep.
It is not a disease or illness, but a symptom generated by the auditory system associated with hearing loss, problems with the hearing pathway or manières disease. It can also be caused by persistent exposure to loud noises which can damage the cochlea (organ of hearing).
If you are suffering from tinnitus, there are lots of types of treatment to help reduce the presence of tinnitus, so get in touch and we can work together taking control of your tinnitus and improving your everyday life.
You’re always turning up the TV Volume.
You come home from work and switch on the TV. You notice the volume is low, so you turn it up. A family member then comes along and turns it down and you then need to turn it back up again, wondering why they keep turning the volume down, it is too quiet.
It is unlikely your family members have superhuman hearing and more likely you have hearing loss. This a small but clear-cut sign you need a hearing test. If everyone in your household is happy with the volume low and you need it louder then you are likely to be suffering from a reduced ability to process information.
You’re missing sounds you shouldn’t.
Is there a noticeable pattern with your hearing?
You sleep through your alarm; you miss phone calls, or you don’t hear cars coming. If this is happening all the time, then this isn’t you being complacent or not paying attention. It is likely your hearing is suffering, and your inner-ear receptors are not picking up on these sounds.
Alert noises such as text messages are often intrusive, they are designed to get your attention. If you are missing noises like this regularly it maybe that you have an underlying hearing problem that needs to be checked out.
Conclusion
As you can see it’s important that you book a hearing test if you’re experiencing any of the signs, we’ve talked about concerning hearing loss.
Treatment can rarely reverse the damage, but it can do two things very effectively:
- It can improve your quality of life; even mild hearing loss can have a negative impact on your day to day living. Treatment can reduce and, in some cases, remove problems associated with hearing loss.
- It can slow down the cause of hearing loss. Some causes of hearing loss are preventable. If we know the root cause, hearing test can create measures that slow or halt or remove the progression of hearing loss.
At Integrate Hearing your Clinical Audiologist Olivia combines thorough hearing assessments, a patient and supportive approach with transparent and trustworthy advice to put her patients at ease in every appointment.
Make an appointment to see Olivia today through the online form on our website or just learn more about our services.
