Knowing when you need 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 situation). You may need a splint or a cast or supportive device, but the thing is that you’re unlikely to try “toughing it out”. If you want your bones to heal properly, you need to get them taken care of as soon as you can.
But when it comes to hearing aids, it’s not always so simple to know when it’s time to get some help. Hearing loss usually advances very slowly over time. This means knowing when to get treatment for hearing loss can be difficult.
That’s why it’s a good idea to keep an eye out for some distinct indicators that you might be losing your ability to communicate. If you observe any, it might be time to consult us about your first pair of hearing aids.
Hearing aids and hearing loss
Hearing loss is mainly 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 helpful in cases of minor hearing loss. As a result, we might want you to wait before starting to use them. Likewise, you may be advised to wear hearing aids only in particular situations.
In other words, the threshold for needing hearing aids is not always a diagnosis of hearing loss.
However, hearing aids will be the best answer in many instances. Many people won’t get their hearing loss diagnosed until it becomes more severe because hearing loss develops gradually and often goes undetected for a while. But if you come in to see us regularly, you may be able to catch your hearing loss early, and, because of this, you may not need hearing aids immediately.
So how will you know if you have hearing loss?
You need hearing aids if you detect these signs
Instant communication problems can be the consequence of hearing loss. The interesting thing, though, is that you don’t always comprehend that those communication issues are due to hearing loss. So, at what point will a hearing aid help you?
Here are a few of the common signs you should look out for:
- You have difficulty understanding what people are saying: Many people feel like the overall volume of life is fine so they never imagine that they may have hearing loss. But the thing about hearing loss is that particular frequencies of sound usually go before others. Due to this, things like vowel sounds in the higher pitches can sound distorted. This could cause you to have a tough time understanding what people are saying.
- You can’t understand people on the phone: Voices typically sound a bit flat on even high-quality phone speakers. If you have hearing loss, this can make it even harder to understand conversations. Again, certain frequencies are missing and the outcome is that it’s really hard to hear those voices.
- You listen to the radio or TV at high volumes: Hearing loss could be the culprit if you constantly need to turn the volume of your devices up. This is especially 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).
- 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 almost always comes up. One of the surest signs of hearing loss is that you have trouble following conversations in noisy locations, like bars or restaurants. This occurs because your ears are not getting as much information as they used to, and your brain isn’t really able to fill in the gaps as easily. As a result, there’s a lot of muddled conversations.
So what can you do?
Clearly, you know precisely what you need to do when you break a bone! But what about when you experience these signs that you might need a hearing aid? How bad does hearing loss have to be to call for a hearing aid? Well, that’s hard to answer, but when you start noticing these symptoms, it’s a good idea to schedule an appointment with us. We’ll be able to evaluate the health of your hearing and determine just how serious your hearing loss may or may not be.
A hearing evaluation will also help you get the optimal hearing aids for your needs if you do indeed need hearing aids. Then you will be able to get back to enjoying good conversations with your friends and family members and doing the things you love.
Call us for a hearing test so we can help you improve your quality of life.
