In some cases, it’s easy to know when you need medical advice. 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 a possibility. At least, not for very long (particularly if you want your bones to repair themselves properly).
But with regard to hearing aids, it’s not always so easy to identify when it’s time to get some help. Hearing loss is usually a progressive condition. This means it’s not always easy to know when you may need to begin wearing hearing aids or to put off seeking treatment you know could be helpful.
That’s why it’s a good plan to watch out for some specific signposts that you might be losing your ability to communicate. If you notice any, it might be time to talk to us about your first pair of hearing aids.
Hearing aids and hearing loss
Hearing aids are the primary form of treatment for hearing loss. But that doesn’t mean everybody who has hearing loss will immediately need a pair of hearing aids. In cases where patients have very minor hearing loss, hearing aids won’t always be beneficial. Because of this, we may want you to wait before starting to use them. In addition, you might be instructed to wear hearing aids only in particular situations.
This means that just because you’re diagnosed with hearing loss doesn’t mean you will necessarily require hearing aids.
But in many situations hearing aids will be the best solution. Because hearing loss can be a sneaky and gradual condition, many individuals don’t get a diagnosis until there’s been considerable damage. But if you come in to see us regularly, you may be able to catch your hearing loss early, and, as a result, you may not require hearing aids right away.
So how will you know if you have hearing loss?
You need hearing aids if you detect these signs
Hearing loss is one of those conditions that can create instant communication difficulties. The interesting thing, though, is that you don’t always understand that those communication issues are caused by hearing loss. So, at what stage will a hearing aid help?
Here are a few of the typical signs you should look out for:
- When people speak, you can’t always make out what they said: Many people feel like the overall volume of life is fine so they never consider that they may have hearing loss. But hearing loss is funny, it tends to impact specific frequencies before others. Which means that the vast majority of sounds could seem ordinary but things in the high frequencies (such as particular vowels) will be distorted. This could cause you to have a tough time understanding what people are saying.
- Phone conversations sound muffled: Even the best phone speakers tend to flatten a voice. That can make it hard to understand, especially if you have hearing loss. It can be extremely difficult to hear voices as a result of the loss of these frequencies.
- The volume on your devices is getting very loud: If you’re continuously turning up the volume on your television or radio or smartphone, it might be due to hearing loss. 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).
- You have a hard time following conversations in noisy places: This is probably one of the most prevailing symptoms of hearing loss. If you have difficulty hearing conversations in loud places, that’s often a sure sign that you have hearing loss. 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 very easily. A lot of conversations get muddled as a result.
So how should you deal with it?
Obviously, you know exactly what you need to do when you break a bone! But what about when you experience these signs that you may need a hearing aid? How bad does hearing loss have to be to require a hearing aid? That isn’t a very easy answer but you should schedule an appointment with us for a hearing assessment if you start to notice any hearing loss symptoms. We’ll be able to evaluate the health of your hearing and ascertain just how serious your hearing loss may or may not be.
A hearing screening will also help you get the best possible hearing aids for your requirements 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 give you a call, your co-workers at your morning meeting, and your friends at the pub.
Give us a call to schedule your hearing test, we can help you understand if you’re suffering from hearing loss.
