You want to be polite when you are talking to friends. At work, you want to look involved, even enthralled with what your manager/co-worker/customers are talking about. You often find yourself asking family to repeat themselves because it was easier to tune out parts of the conversation that you weren’t able to hear very well.
On zoom calls you lean in closer. You look for facial cues, listen for inflection, pay close attention to body language. You attempt to read people’s lips. And if that doesn’t work, you nod in understanding as if you heard everything.
Maybe your in denial. You missed lots of what was said, and you’re struggling to catch up. Life at home and projects at work have become unjustifiably difficult and you are feeling aggravated and isolated due to years of cumulative hearing loss.
The ability for someone to hear is impacted by situational factors such as background noise, competing signals, room acoustics, and how comfortable they are with their surroundings, according to research. But for people who suffer from hearing loss these factors are made even more difficult.
There are some tell-tale habits that will raise your awareness of whether you’re in denial about how your hearing loss is impacting your social and professional life:
- Leaning in during conversations and instinctively cupping your ear with your hand
- Asking others what was said after pretending to hear what someone was saying
- Not able to hear others talking from behind you
- Asking people to repeat themselves again and again… and again
- Thinking people aren’t speaking clearly when all you seem to hear is mumbling
- Missing what people are saying when on phone conversations
While it may feel like this crept up on you in an all-of-a-sudden way, chances are your hearing impairment didn’t happen overnight. Most people wait an average of 7 years before accepting the issue and seeking help.
That means if your hearing loss is problematic now, it has most likely been going un-addressed and untreated for some time. Hearing loss is no joke so stop kidding yourself and schedule an appointment now.
