Hearing loss, impairment, or deafness can be total or partial inability to hear sounds. Symptoms could be profound, severe, moderate, or mild. Hearing loss can be due to extended exposure to loud noises or aging. While most hearing loss types can’t be reversed, you can get professional assistance to improve your hearing.
Hearing loss doesn’t happen suddenly, so paying attention to the initial symptoms can help you seek medical treatment before escalating. It can be conductive, sensorineural, or a combination of the two. This article outlines nine signs of hearing loss.
1. It’s hard to follow conversations in noisy places
When hearing loss begins, following conversations in places with background noises like restaurants and malls become difficult. The noise in these areas is usually low-pitched, while other letters in speech, such as s and f, are high-pitched. With hearing loss, you may have issues hearing the high tones, meaning you’ll only hear noises better than the conversation of those around you.
When experiencing age-related hearing loss, the way your brain processes sound can make it challenging to ignore background noise. If you suspect that you have hearing loss, you can take a free online hearing test at Helix Hearing Care or any other hearing clinic.
2. High-pitched sounds become unclear or muffled
As you age, your cochlea (the inner ear organ responsible for helping you hear) gets damaged, resulting in the high-pitched sound detecting cells failing first. This makes it difficult to understand people with high-pitched voices, including women and children. A damaged cochlea also makes it hard to hear the crickets chirping or the microwave beeping. Additionally, hearing musical instruments that produce high-frequency sounds like the violin and flute can be difficult, so speak to a professional early enough to find a solution.
3. You watch people’s lips instead of making eye contact
If one of your senses doesn’t function as it should, the brain will try utilizing more of another sense to make up for it. When you start losing your hearing, you begin lip-reading to understand what others tell you. If you find yourself focusing on other people’s lips instead of making eye contact when conversing, it could be a sign that you’re losing hearing.
4. You experience listening fatigue
When you have problems hearing all speech sounds, your brain will struggle to fill in the gaps in a conversation to make sense of what is being said. This requires a lot of concentration, mainly when different people are talking simultaneously, leaving you physically and mentally drained and causing fatigue. If you find yourself experiencing listening fatigue after attending events, it might be time to consult an audiologist.
5. People claim that your TV or radio is too loud
When experiencing hearing problems, you keep increasing your TV or radio’s volume. You may not realize that the volume is too high until someone points it out. Also, if the sound is so high that you need to reduce it to listen to others, you could be having hearing problems.
6. You experience ringing or other sounds in one or both ears
Ringing, buzzing, roaring, clicking, hissing, or humming sounds in your ears is called tinnitus. Tinnitus noises vary in pitch and are sometimes so loud that they interfere with your ability to hear external sounds or concentrate. It may be caused by an issue with your circulatory system, ear injury, or age. Consider seeing a doctor to get the issue addressed.
7. You’re struggling to follow conversations
Following conversations even in areas without background noise becomes a struggle when you start losing your hearing. You may find yourself asking people to speak slowly, loudly, or clearly. In addition, if you start asking people to repeat almost everything they say, it could be a sign you’re losing your hearing. While you may brush it off at first, it’s crucial to get a hearing test to determine what can be done to improve your hearing.
8. You prefer skipping social gatherings
Social gatherings become less enjoyable if you have hearing problems. Watching others enjoy themselves and not being able to join in can be disheartening because you can’t make out what they’re saying. This may cause you to avoid social gatherings and not look forward to hanging out with colleagues and friends, resulting in self-isolation. This social isolation and withdrawal may result in depression symptoms as time passes. Seek immediate medical care can help alleviate the situation, enabling you to enjoy social gatherings.
9. You find it hard to talk on the phone
Usually, sound goes through both ears. However, talking on the phone requires one ear, making it hard to hear when experiencing hearing loss.
Endnote
Hearing loss doesn’t happen all of a sudden. Look for these signs and seek medical attention immediately.
