Knowing when you need some medical advice is usually fairly easy. You know you need to go see a doctor immediately if you break your leg, for example. You may need a splint or a cast or supportive device, but the thing is that you’re not likely to try “toughing it out”. If you want your bones to mend correctly, you need to get them treated as soon as possible.
It isn’t always that obvious with regard to hearing aids, however. Hearing loss usually progresses very gradually over time. This means knowing 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. If you detect any, it might be time to consult us about your first pair of hearing aids.
Hearing loss and hearing aids
Hearing aids are the main form of treatment for hearing loss. But that doesn’t mean everyone who has hearing loss will immediately need a set of hearing aids. Hearing aids won’t always be helpful in cases of mild hearing loss. Because of this, we might want you to wait before starting to use them. It’s also feasible that we could direct you to only wear your hearing aids when you’re in certain situations.
Essentially, the threshold for needing hearing aids isn’t always a diagnosis of hearing loss.
But in many cases hearing aids will be the best option. Because hearing loss can be a sneaky and slow condition, many people don’t get a diagnosis until there’s been considerable damage. Getting your hearing examined regularly is the key to catching hearing loss early and possibly mitigating the need for hearing aids.
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 funny thing, though, is that you don’t always understand that those communication issues are caused by hearing loss. So, when is it time for a hearing aid?
Look out for these signs:
- You can’t understand people on the phone: Voices typically sound a bit flat on even high-quality phone speakers. That can make it difficult to understand, particularly if you have hearing loss. It can be extremely challenging to hear voices as an outcome of the loss of these frequencies.
- When you’re in very loud settings, you have a tough time following conversations: When people ask, “What are the signs of hearing loss?”, this one almost always comes up. One of the surest signs of hearing loss is that you have difficulty following conversations in loud settings, like bars or restaurants. This happens because your ears aren’t receiving as much information as they used to, and your brain isn’t really able to fill in the gaps as easily. A lot of conversations get muddled because of this.
- You have difficulty making out what people are saying: Many individuals feel like the overall volume of life is fine so they never imagine that they may have hearing loss. But hearing loss is funny, it tends to affect particular frequencies before others. Which means that the great majority of sounds could seem normal but things in the high frequencies (like particular vowels) will be distorted. As a result, you may have a tough time understanding what people are saying to you.
- The volume on your devices is getting very loud: If you’re continuously turning the volume up on your television or radio or smartphone, it may be because of hearing loss. This is especially true if you keep turning that volume knob higher (and even more especially true if the people around you complain about how loud your media is).
So how should you deal with it?
When you break your leg, it’s obvious what to do: you go see the doctor! But what about when you notice these signs that you may need a hearing aid? What degree of hearing loss calls for hearing aids? Well, that’s hard to answer, but when you start noticing these signs, it’s a good idea to make an appointment with us. We will be able to let you know how severe your hearing loss is.
And if you do wind up needing hearing aids, a hearing assessment 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 loved ones, you’ll understand your grandkids when they give you a call, your co-workers at your morning meeting, and your friends at the pub.
Give us a call to schedule your hearing exam, we can help you understand if you’re suffering from hearing loss.