Because it develops slowly, many of my patients are unaware of their hearing loss until it becomes a severe issue.
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) indicates that untreated hearing loss doubles the risk of developing depression and increases the risk of anxiety and other mental health issues like dementia.
Consequently, the earlier I can identify a hearing loss, the sooner I can begin to provide the help my patients need and prevent the development of further health issues.
I have compiled a list of some common signs or symptoms associated with hearing loss to help with early identification.
Asking Others To Repeat Themselves
“What did you say?” becomes a common statement, especially when you are in a busy restaurant or a crowded room, where clatter and commotion make it challenging to sort out the speaker’s voice.
Many people don’t even realize they are doing this because it becomes ingrained as a regular part of daily living. For example, an early indicator of hearing loss is an inability to understand women or children because they speak at higher frequencies, contributing to sound distortion or missed words and phrases.
Difficulty Using The Phone
If you hate using the phone to communicate with people, it could be because you are not hearing them well.
Phone conversations take away the visual cues, which are present when speaking face to face, eliminating one of the elements you tend to rely on to understand what another person is saying.
Without this visual element, you rely on sound alone, making phone conversations frustrating.
People Don’t Enunciate!
Does it seem to you like no one around you enunciates their words correctly?
Although some people are lazy when it comes to pronunciation or speak too fast, the vast majority are communicating clearly. What happens is that hearing loss makes it challenging to identify the consonants in words, making it impossible to distinguish one vowel-loaded word from another.
High Volume
Have you become dependent on the volume setting on your TV remote control?
If you notice frequent volume adjustment, usually turning it up, on the television, radio, cell phone, or other audio-related electronics, it is a pretty good indicator of hearing loss.
Frequent Headaches And Fatigue
Although frequent headaches and fatigue are symptoms of various other health conditions, they can be indicators of hearing loss.
Suppose you regularly engage in conversations with people throughout the day and struggle to keep up with the conversations around you.
In that case, it will cause stress, strain, and fatigue due to the increased concentration needed to fill in the blanks you do not hear properly.
Continuous Ringing Or Buzzing
My patients describe tinnitus in different ways, including sensations of ringing, buzzing, or even whooshing, which never seem to disappear.
Tinnitus causes you to hear sounds that are not there and is a common hearing loss symptom of damage from loud noise exposure or age-related deterioration.
If you are experiencing one, several, or all of these symptoms, then you should consider making an appointment with your audiologist to have a thorough hearing examination.
To maintain a healthy and active lifestyle, the sooner I help, the sooner you can enjoy everyday activities without the frustrations of hearing loss.
My team and I at Aim Hearing and Audiology Services have the expertise and equipment to accurately identify hearing loss, locate its cause, and provide you with the best treatment options for better hearing health before things get worse.
Contact us today to learn more about the hearing health solutions that Aim Hearing and Audiology Services provide to our Greensboro, NC community, or call 336 294 9617 to make an appointment.
