Your last family get-together was disheartening. Not because of any intra-family episode (though there’s always a little bit of that). No, the cause of the stress was simple: it was noisy, and you couldn’t hear anything. So you didn’t get the opportunity to ask about Dave’s new kitten or Sally’s new career. It was difficult. For the most part, you blame the acoustics. But you can’t entirely dismiss the possibility that perhaps your hearing is beginning to go bad.
It can be especially difficult to self-diagnose hearing loss (that’s why, typically, it’s not suggested). But you should keep your eye out for certain warning signs. When enough red flags show up, it’s time to call us for a hearing assessment.
Hearing loss’s early signs
Not every symptom and sign of hearing loss is evident. But you could be dealing with hearing loss if you can relate to any of the items on this list.
Here are some of the most prevalent early signs of hearing loss:
- It’s suddenly very challenging to understand phone calls: You might not talk on the phone as often as you used to because you use texting pretty often. But you may be encountering another early warning sign if you’re having trouble understanding the calls you do take.
- When you’re in a crowded noisy place, you have difficulty following conversations. This is often an early indication of hearing loss.
- Normal sounds seem oppressively loud. It’s one of the more unusual early warning signs linked to hearing loss, but hyperacusis is common enough that you might find yourself experiencing its symptoms. If you are having this issue, especially if it lingers, it’s time for a hearing test.
- High-pitched sounds are hard to hear. Maybe you just noticed your teapot was whistling after five minutes. Or perhaps, you never even notice the doorbell ringing. Early hearing loss is normally most noticeable in specific (and often high-pitched) frequencies of sound.
- You often need people to repeat what they said. If you find yourself asking numerous people to talk more slowly, speak louder, or repeat what they said, this is especially true. You may not even recognize you’re making such frequent requests, but it can certainly be an early sign of hearing impairment.
- Someone observes that the volume on your media devices is getting louder. Perhaps you keep turning up the volume on your cell phone. Or perhaps, your TV speakers are maxed out. Usually, you’re not the one that observes the loud volume, it’s your children, possibly your neighbor, or your friends.
- Specific words are difficult to understand. This symptom happens when consonants become hard to hear and differentiate. The “sh” and “th” sounds are the most prevalent examples. Sometimes, it’s the s- and f-sounds or p- and t-sounds that become conflated.
- Your ears are ringing: Ringing in your ears is known as tinnitus (and, technically, tinnitus can be other sounds as well: humming, buzzing, screeching, thumping, and so on). Tinnitus isn’t always linked to hearing issues, but it is often an early warning sign of hearing loss, so a hearing assessment is probably needed.
Next up: Take a test
No matter how many of these early red flags you may experience, there’s really only one way to know, with certainty, whether your hearing is diminishing: get a hearing test.
In general, any single one of these early warning signs could be evidence that you’re developing some type of hearing impairment. A hearing evaluation will be able to tell what level of impairment, if any, exists. Once we discover the level of hearing loss, we can determine the best course of treatment.
This will help you have a much more enjoyable time at that next family get-together.