Recognizing when you require some medical advice is usually fairly easy. When you break a bone, for instance, you know you should go to the doctor (or the emergency room, depending on the scenario). 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 repair themselves correctly).
It isn’t always that clear cut when it comes to hearing aids, though. Hearing loss typically progresses very gradually over time. This means knowing when to get treatment for hearing loss can be difficult.
That’s why it’s a good idea to watch out for some distinct indicators that you might be losing your ability to communicate. If you observe any, it may be time to talk to us about your first pair of hearing aids.
Hearing loss and hearing aids
Hearing loss is primarily treated with hearing aids. But that doesn’t mean everyone who has hearing loss will immediately need a set of hearing aids. Hearing aids won’t always be practical in cases of minor hearing loss. We may want you to hold off on using hearing aids as a result. In addition, you might be advised to wear hearing aids only in particular situations.
This means that just because you are diagnosed with hearing loss doesn’t mean you will necessarily need hearing aids.
But in many situations hearing aids will be the best option. Many people won’t get their hearing loss diagnosed until it becomes more severe because hearing loss progresses slowly and often goes unnoticed for a while. But if you come in for a hearing exam regularly, you may be able to catch your hearing loss early, and, because of this, you might not require hearing aids right away.
And if that’s the situation, you’re most likely thinking: how can I tell if I require hearing aids?
You need hearing aids if you experience these signs
Instant communication challenges can be the consequence of hearing loss. But lots of times you don’t even recognize that hearing loss is the reason for those communication problems. So, at what point will a hearing aid help you?
Here are some of the common signs you should look out for:
- You have problems understanding what people are saying: Many people feel like the total volume of life is fine so they never consider that they might have hearing loss. But hearing loss is funny, it tends to impact specific frequencies before others. Which means that the vast majority of sounds could seem normal but things in the high frequencies (such as particular vowels) will be distorted. As a result, you might have a difficult time making out what people are saying to you.
- You can’t understand people on the phone: Even the best phone speakers have a habit of flattening a voice. That can make it hard to understand, especially if you have hearing loss. It can be really challenging to hear voices as an outcome of the loss of these frequencies.
- When you’re in noisy settings, you have a tough time following conversations: When people ask, “What are the signs of hearing loss?”, this one is almost always mentioned. If you have difficulty hearing conversations in loud places, that’s often a sure sign that you have hearing loss. That’s because your brain has a hard time filling in the missing information that gets lost with hearing impairment. As a result, there’s a lot of muffled conversations.
- You listen to the radio or TV at high levels: If you’re constantly turning up the volume on your television or radio or smartphone, it might be due to hearing loss. If you find individuals around you complaining about the loud volume of your devices, this is particularly true.
So what can you do?
Clearly, you know exactly what you have to do when you break a bone! But what do you do when you begin to experience the symptoms of hearing loss? How bad does hearing loss need to be to require a hearing aid? Well, that’s difficult to answer, but when you begin experiencing these symptoms, it’s a good plan to make an appointment with us. We will be able to let you know how severe your hearing loss is.
A hearing test 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 loved ones, you’ll hear 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 exam so we can help you improve your quality of life.
