Recognizing when you need some medical advice is normally fairly easy. When you break your leg, for example, you know you should go to the doctor (or the emergency room, depending on the situation). With scenarios like this, simply “toughing it out” isn’t an option. At least, not for that long (especially if you want your bones to repair themselves correctly).
But with regard to hearing aids, it isn’t always so simple to recognize when it’s time to get some assistance. Hearing loss is usually a developing condition. This means recognizing when to get treatment for hearing loss can be tricky.
So keeping an eye out for signs that your hearing is going is a good idea. If you observe any, it may be time to talk to us about your first set of hearing aids.
Hearing aids and hearing loss
Hearing aids are the main method of treatment for hearing loss. But everyone who has some level of hearing loss won’t necessarily need hearing aids. Hearing aids won’t always be beneficial in cases of minor hearing loss. Because of this, we might want you to wait before starting to use them. In addition, you might be instructed to wear hearing aids only in certain situations.
In other words, the threshold for requiring hearing aids is not always a diagnosis of hearing loss.
But in many cases hearing aids will be the best solution. Many people won’t get their hearing loss diagnosed until it becomes more serious because hearing loss advances slowly and often goes unnoticed for a while. But if you come in to see us regularly, you might be able to catch your hearing loss early, and, because of this, you might not need hearing aids right away.
So how will you know if you have hearing loss?
Signs you need a hearing aid
Instant communication problems can be the result of hearing loss. The curious thing, though, is that you don’t always comprehend that those communication issues are caused by hearing loss. So, when is it time for a hearing aid?
Watch out for these indicators:
- You have difficulty making out what people are saying: Many individuals don’t think they have hearing loss or need hearing aids because the overall volume they perceive seems fine. But hearing loss is funny, it tends to affect particular frequencies before others. Which means that the vast majority of sounds could seem normal but things in the high frequencies (like certain vowels) will be distorted. This could cause you to have a hard time making out what people are saying.
- 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. One of the surest signs of hearing loss is that you have trouble following conversations in loud locations, like bars or restaurants. This occurs because your ears are not receiving as much information as they used to, and your brain isn’t really capable of filling in the gaps very easily. As a result, there’s a lot of muddled conversations.
- The volume on your devices is getting very loud: If you’re constantly turning up the volume on your television or radio or smartphone, it may be due to hearing loss. This is particularly true if you keep turning that volume knob higher (and even more especially true if the people around you complain about how loud your media is).
- Phone conversations sound muffled: Voices usually sound a little flat on even high-quality phone speakers. That can make it difficult to understand, particularly if you have hearing loss. Once again, specific frequencies are missing and the result is that it’s extremely difficult to understand those voices.
So how should you deal with it?
Clearly, you know precisely what you have to do when you break a bone! But what do you do when you start to experience the symptoms of hearing loss? What level of hearing loss requires hearing aids? 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 inform you about how severe your hearing loss is.
A hearing evaluation will also help you get the optimal hearing aids for your needs if you do indeed need hearing aids. This means you’ll be able to get back to spending quality time 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 test so we can help you improve your quality of life.