Sometimes, it’s easy to know when you require medical advice. You know you need to go to the doctor right away if you break your leg, for instance. With situations like this, simply “toughing it out” isn’t a possibility. At least, not for that long (especially if you want your bones to mend themselves properly).
It’s not always that obvious with regard to hearing aids, however. Hearing loss typically progresses very gradually over time. This means knowing when to get treatment for hearing loss can be tricky.
So keeping an eye out for indications that your hearing is going is a good plan. It’s probably time to call us for a consultation if you do detect any.
Hearing aids and hearing loss
Hearing loss is mainly managed with hearing aids. But that doesn’t mean everyone who has hearing loss will immediately need a pair of hearing aids. In situations where patients have very minor hearing loss, hearing aids won’t always be practical. We may want you to hold off on using hearing aids as a result. It’s also feasible that we could advise you to only wear your hearing aids when you’re in particular situations.
Essentially, the threshold for needing hearing aids isn’t always a diagnosis of hearing loss.
However, hearing aids will be the best answer in many situations. Because hearing loss can be a sneaky and slow condition, lots of people don’t receive 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, because of this, you might not need hearing aids immediately.
And if that’s the situation, you’re probably thinking: how can I tell if I require hearing aids?
You need hearing aids if you experience these signs
Hearing loss is one of those conditions that can produce immediate communication challenges. The funny thing, though, is that you don’t always comprehend that those communication issues are due to hearing loss. So, when is it time for a hearing aid?
Here are some of the common signs you should look out for:
- When people talk, you can’t always make out what they said: 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 specific frequencies of sound usually go before others. Which means that the great majority of sounds might seem normal but things in the high frequencies (such as particular vowels) will be distorted. As a result, you may have a tough time making out what people are saying to you.
- The volume on your devices is getting very loud: Hearing loss could be the culprit if you continually need to crank the volume of your devices up. This is especially true if you keep moving that volume knob higher (and even more especially true if the people around you complain about how loud your media is).
- Phone conversations sound muffled: Voices usually sound a bit flat on even high-quality phone speakers. If you have hearing loss, this can make it even more difficult to understand conversations. Again, particular frequencies are cut out and the result is that it’s very hard to understand those voices.
- You have a tough time hearing conversations in loud places: When people ask, “What are the signs of hearing loss?”, this one is almost always mentioned. One of the surest indications of hearing loss is that you have trouble following conversations in loud places, 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 capable of filling in the gaps very easily. A lot of conversations get muffled as a result.
So how should you deal with it?
Clearly, you know precisely what you need to do when you break a bone! But what about when you notice these indications that you may need a hearing aid? How severe does hearing loss need to be to call for a hearing aid? That isn’t a very easy answer but you should make an appointment with us for a hearing test if you start to detect any hearing loss symptoms. We’ll be able to evaluate the health of your hearing and find out just how serious your hearing loss may or may not be.
And if you do end up needing hearing aids, a hearing exam will help determine the best device for your hearing needs. This means you’ll be able to get back to spending quality time with your friends and family, you’ll hear your grandkids when they call you on the phone, your co-workers at your morning meeting, and your friends at the pub.
Call us for a hearing test so we can help you improve your quality of life.