The last time you ate dinner with family, you were pretty aggravated. It wasn’t because of family crisis (this time). No, the source of the frustration was simple: it was noisy, and you couldn’t hear a thing. So you didn’t get the opportunity to ask about Dave’s new kitten or Sally’s new job. And that was really annoying. For the most part, you blame the acoustics. But you have to acknowledge that it may be a problem with your hearing.
It can be incredibly difficult to self-diagnose hearing loss (that’s why, generally, it’s not suggested). But you should keep your eye out for certain warnings. When enough red flags show up, it’s time to call us for a hearing exam.
Hearing loss’s early signs
Most of the symptoms of hearing loss are subtle. But if you happen to see your own experiences reflected in any of the items on this list, you just could be experiencing some level of hearing loss.
Some of the most common early signs of hearing loss may include:
- You’re suddenly finding it hard to hear when you’re talking on the phone: You may not talk on the phone as often as you used to because you use texting fairly often. But if you’re having difficulty understanding the phone calls you do receive (even with the volume turned all the way up), you might be experiencing another red flag for your hearing.
- You keep asking people to repeat themselves. If you find yourself asking multiple people to talk slower, talk louder, or repeat what they said, this is especially true. This early sign of hearing loss may be occurring without you even noticing.
- A friend notices that your media devices are getting progressively louder. Perhaps the volume on your cell phone keeps getting louder and louder. Or maybe, you have your TV volume cranked up to max. Usually, you’re not the one that notices the loud volume, it’s your children, possibly your neighbor, or your friends.
- You notice ringing in your ears: Ringing in your ears is called tinnitus (and, technically, tinnitus can be other sounds as well: screeching, buzzing, humming, thumping, and so on). If you have ringing or other chronic noises in your ears, a hearing test is your best bet because tinnitus, though it’s often an early warning of hearing loss, can also point to other health issues.
- You find that some sounds become unbearably loud. You may or may not experience this but if you do, keep in mind that it can be an early warning of hearing loss. If particular sounds become oppressively loud (particularly if the problem doesn’t go away in short order), that could be an early hearing loss symptom.
- You notice it’s difficult to make out certain words. This red flag frequently appears because consonants are starting to sound alike, or at least, becoming more difficult to differentiate. Normally, it’s the sh- and th- sounds that are garbled. Sometimes, it’s the s- and f-sounds or p- and t-sounds that become conflated.
- High-pitched sounds are hard to hear. Perhaps you find your tea kettle has been screeching for five minutes without your knowledge. Or maybe the doorbell rings, and you don’t notice it. Early hearing loss is usually most apparent in particular (and often high-pitched) frequencies of sound.
- When you’re in a crowded noisy place, you have difficulty hearing conversations. This is precisely what happened during the “family dinner” example above, and it’s often an early indication of trouble with hearing.
Get a hearing exam
No matter how many of these early red flags you might encounter, there’s really only one way to know, with certainty, whether your hearing is going bad: get a hearing test.
Generally speaking, any single one of these early warning signs could be evidence that you’re developing some type of hearing loss. A hearing evaluation will be able to reveal what degree of impairment, if any, exists. And then you’ll be better prepared to find the correct treatment.
This will help you have a much more enjoyable time at that next family get-together.
