Sometimes, it’s easy to recognize when you require medical advice. You know you need to go see a doctor immediately if you break a bone, for instance. With situations like this, simply “toughing it out” isn’t an option. If you want your bones to mend properly, you need to get them taken care of as soon as you can.
But in terms of hearing aids, it isn’t always so simple to identify when it’s time to get some assistance. Hearing loss normally advances very slowly over time. This means knowing when to get treatment for hearing loss can be difficult.
That’s why it’s a good idea to watch out for some particular signposts that you may be losing your ability to communicate. It’s likely time to call us for a consultation if you do notice any.
Hearing loss and hearing aids
Hearing loss is mainly managed with hearing aids. But everyone who has some degree of hearing loss won’t necessarily need hearing aids. Hearing aids won’t always be practical in cases of minor hearing loss. As a result, we may want you to wait before starting to use them. Likewise, you might be advised to wear hearing aids only in specific situations.
In other words, the threshold for requiring hearing aids isn’t always a hearing loss diagnosis.
But in many cases hearing aids will be the best answer. Because hearing loss can be a sneaky and slow condition, lots of people don’t get 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, as a result, you might not require hearing aids immediately.
And if that’s the case, you’re probably thinking: how can I tell if I require hearing aids?
You need hearing aids if you experience these indicators
Immediate communication problems can be the result of hearing loss. The funny thing, though, is that you don’t always realize that those communication issues are caused by hearing loss. So, at what stage will a hearing aid help you?
Here are some of the typical signs you should watch out for:
- 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 is almost always mentioned. If you have difficulty hearing conversations in noisy places, that’s often a sure sign that you have hearing loss. That’s because your brain has a hard time filling in the missing information that gets lost with hearing impairment. A lot of conversations get muffled because of this.
- You’re unable to understand people on the phone: Voices usually sound a bit flat on even high-quality phone speakers. That can make it difficult to understand, especially if you have hearing loss. Once again, specific frequencies are missing and the result is that it’s extremely difficult to hear those voices.
- You listen to the radio or TV at high levels: If you’re always 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 have problems understanding what people are saying: Many people 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. Which means that the vast majority of sounds could seem normal but things in the high frequencies (such as particular vowels) will be distorted. This could cause you to have a difficult time understanding what people are saying.
So what should you do?
Obviously, you know precisely what you have to do when you break a bone! But what about when you experience these signs that you might need a hearing aid? How bad does hearing loss have to be to require a hearing aid? That isn’t a very easy answer but you should make an appointment with us for a hearing exam if you begin to experience any hearing loss symptoms. We will be able to inform you about how serious your hearing loss is.
A hearing evaluation will also help you get the best possible hearing aids for your needs if you do indeed need hearing aids. Then you will be able to get back to taking pleasure in good conversations with your friends and loved ones and doing the things you love.
Call us for a hearing exam so we can help you improve your quality of life.