Recognizing when you require some medical advice is usually pretty easy. You know you need to go see a doctor immediately if you break your leg, for example. You may need a splint or a cast or supportive device, but the point is that you’re not likely to try “toughing it out”. At least, not for very long (particularly if you want your bones to mend themselves correctly).
It isn’t always that clear cut when it comes to hearing aids, however. Hearing loss is usually a developing condition. This means recognizing when to get treatment for hearing loss can be difficult.
So keeping an eye out for indications that your hearing is going is a good idea. It’s probably time to call us for a consultation if you do detect any.
Hearing loss and hearing aids
Hearing loss is primarily managed with hearing aids. But everyone who has some degree of hearing loss won’t necessarily need hearing aids. In situations where patients have very minor hearing loss, hearing aids won’t always be useful. Because of this, we might want you to wait before beginning to use them. It’s also possible that we could direct you to only wear your hearing aids when you’re in particular situations.
This means that just because you’re diagnosed with hearing loss doesn’t mean you will automatically require hearing aids.
However, hearing aids will be the ideal answer in many situations. Because hearing loss can be a sneaky and gradual condition, many people don’t receive a diagnosis until there’s been substantial damage. But if you come in to see us regularly, you might be able to catch your hearing loss early, and, as a result, you may not need hearing aids immediately.
So how will you know if you have hearing loss?
You need hearing aids if you experience these indicators
Hearing loss is one of those conditions that can create immediate communication obstacles. The interesting thing, though, is that you don’t always comprehend that those communication obstacles are due to hearing loss. So, when is it time for a hearing aid?
Look out for these signs:
- When people speak, you can’t always understand what they said: Many people don’t think they have hearing loss or need hearing aids because the total volume they hear seems fine. But hearing loss is curious, it tends to affect specific frequencies before others. Which means that the vast majority of sounds could seem ordinary but things in the high frequencies (such as certain vowels) will be distorted. This could cause you to have a difficult time understanding what people are saying.
- You can’t understand people on the phone: Voices usually sound a bit flat on even high-quality phone speakers. If you have hearing loss, this can make it even more difficult to understand conversations. Once again, certain frequencies are cut out and the result is that it’s extremely hard to hear those voices.
- You listen to the radio or TV at really loud levels: Hearing loss could be the cause if you continuously need to turn the volume of your devices up. This is especially true if you keep turning that volume knob higher (and even more especially relevant if the people around you complain about how loud your media is).
- You have a tough time following conversations in loud places: When people ask, “What are the signs of hearing loss?”, this one is almost always mentioned. If you have trouble hearing conversations in loud places, that’s often a sure sign that you have hearing loss. This occurs because your ears aren’t receiving as much information as they used to, and your brain isn’t really capable of filling in the gaps as easily. Because of this, there’s a lot of muddled conversations.
So how should you deal with it?
Obviously, you know precisely what you have to do when you break a bone! But what do you do when you start to detect the symptoms of hearing loss? What degree of hearing loss calls for hearing aids? That isn’t a really easy answer but you should make an appointment with us for a hearing exam if you start to experience any hearing loss symptoms. We’ll be able to assess the health of your hearing and ascertain just how serious your hearing loss may or may not be.
A hearing evaluation will also help you get the best possible hearing aids for your requirements if you do indeed need hearing aids. This means you’ll be able to get back to communicating with your friends and family, you’ll understand your grandkids when they call you on the phone, your co-workers at your morning meeting, and your friends at the pub.
Call us for a hearing test so we can help you improve your quality of life.
