Sometimes, it’s easy to know when you require medical help. You know you need to go to the doctor immediately if you break a bone, for instance. With situations like this, simply “toughing it out” isn’t an option. At least, not for very long (particularly if you want your bones to mend themselves properly).
But in terms of hearing aids, it’s not always so easy to know when it’s time to get some help. Hearing loss is normally a progressive condition. This means recognizing when to get treatment for hearing loss can be difficult.
So keeping an eye out for indications that your hearing may be going is a good plan. It’s probably time to call us for a consultation if you do detect any.
Hearing loss and hearing aids
Hearing loss is mainly treated with hearing aids. But everyone who has some level of hearing loss won’t automatically need hearing aids. In cases where patients have very mild hearing loss, hearing aids won’t always be useful. We might want you to hold off on using hearing aids because of this. It’s also feasible that we could direct you to only use your hearing aids when you’re in particular situations.
This means that just because you’re diagnosed with hearing loss doesn’t mean you will necessarily need hearing aids.
But in many situations hearing aids will be the best solution. Many people won’t get their hearing loss diagnosed until it becomes more severe because hearing loss develops slowly and frequently 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 require hearing aids immediately.
So how will you know if you have hearing loss?
Signs you need a hearing aid
Immediate communication challenges can be the consequence of hearing loss. The interesting thing, though, is that you don’t always realize that those communication issues are caused by hearing loss. So, when is it time for a hearing aid?
Look out for these indicators:
- When people speak, you can’t always understand what they said: Many individuals feel like the total volume of life is fine so they never imagine that they may have hearing loss. But hearing loss is curious, it tends to impact particular frequencies before others. Due to this, things like vowel sounds in the higher register can sound distorted. This could cause you to have a difficult time making out what people are saying.
- You listen to the radio or TV at really loud volumes: If you’re constantly turning the volume up on your television or radio or smartphone, it might be due to hearing loss. If you find individuals around you complaining about the high volume of your devices, this is particularly true.
- You’re unable to understand people on the phone: Even the best phone speakers have a habit of flattening a voice. If you have hearing loss, this can make it even more challenging to understand conversations. It can be extremely challenging to hear voices as an outcome of the loss of these frequencies.
- When you’re in noisy locations, you have a hard time following conversations: When people ask, “What are the signs of hearing loss?”, this one almost always comes up. If you have trouble hearing conversations in noisy places, that’s often a sure sign that you have hearing loss. That’s because your brain has trouble filling in the missing information that gets lost with hearing impairment. Lots of conversations get muddled because of this.
So what can you do?
When you break your leg, it’s clear cut what to do: you go to the doctor! But what about when you notice these indications that you might need a hearing aid? What level of hearing loss requires hearing aids? Well, that’s difficult to answer, but when you begin detecting these signs, it’s a good plan to schedule an appointment with us. 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.
A hearing evaluation will also help you get the best possible hearing aids for your requirements if you do indeed need hearing aids. Then you will be able to get back to enjoying good conversations with your friends and loved ones and doing the things you love.
Call us for a hearing test so we can help you improve your quality of life.