While there are exceptions, hearing loss is most commonly a progressive and gradual deterioration of your hearing that occurs over years if not decades.
Because of this, most people don’t notice as their hearing degrades over time. In fact statistically most people have been experiencing hearing loss for seven years by the time they finally reach out to get their hearing tested by an audiologist.
While this seven year delay can be partially due to those individuals who deliberately ignore or deny the issue, more often it is due to the fact that people are entirely unaware their hearing has decreased.
While there are many indicators of hearing loss, today we’ll share three of the most common signs and examples that indicate you may be losing your hearing.
Hearing loss sign #1
Probably the first (or one of the first) signs of hearing loss is when people have difficulty hearing high pitched sounds.
So if you find yourself struggling to understand children, have trouble hearing beeping sounds or other higher frequencies (even some women’s voices), you should recognize this are key markers that could (likely) indicate hearing loss since an inability to hear high pitched sounds is a definite indicator that at least some degree of hearing loss has occurred.
Hearing loss sign #2
Do you find yourself struggling to hear things when there is background noise or sounds present?
Have you found yourself craning your neck to follow conversations in crowded rooms, do you struggle or have a hard time hearing the television when other people are talking or find hearing people in the backseat of vehicles challenging? All of these are definite telltale signs of potential hearing loss. As hearing loss progresses, it often makes it harder for our brains to process sounds and filter out background noise.
Hearing loss sign #3
While this is probably tied to the last hearing loss sign, it is such a common and frequent issue it justifies being considered on its own.
Does your spouse or family members tell you the television is too loud?
From our experience, this is the most common issue audiologists hear from new patients. If this comment has been leveled at you with any regularity it’s a pretty big red flag that your hearing has probably deteriorated to some degree.
So what should you do if you’ve been experiencing any of these examples? Contact a doctor of audiology as soon as possible and get your hearing tested right away.