Detecting the early signs of hearing loss is trickier than you might initially think. Hearing loss develops gradually, and the early symptoms can be subtle, making them easy to overlook or dismiss. Learning to recognize these early symptoms is what makes proactive management possible.
Early Signs of Hearing Loss
1: Frequently asking people to repeat themselves
Saying “what?” over and over again is a classic sign of hearing loss, so you might think that it’s not that hard to notice, but it can be. The reason is that the brain comes up with excuses for why a word was missed. You might tell yourself that the loud music playing in the background distracted you, or that your friend wasn’t speaking loudly enough.
2: Difficulty understanding speech in noisy places
Imagine sitting in a trendy restaurant with your friends. One friend is telling you a story about their weekend. While you can hear their voice, you’re struggling to grasp what they’re saying. This is a very common sign of hearing loss, but many people overlook it.
The reason so many people don’t associate the confusion they feel in this scenario with hearing loss is because they can, in fact, hear what their friend is saying; therefore, it’s easy to reason that their ears are working just fine. However, the confusion indicates that the auditory processing center of the brain is receiving sound information inaccurately or incompletely.
3: Turning up the television volume
This is also easy to overlook, even though it seems so obvious. Too often, we pick up the remote and turn up the volume without really thinking about it. We don’t notice the volume is up that high until someone nearby comments (or complains) that it’s too loud.
Why You Should Get Tested Sooner Than Later
We know that it’s easy to explain away the signs of hearing loss listed above, and to convince yourself that it’s “not a big deal” and you “can live with it” once you do notice symptoms of hearing loss. But once you do, we strongly encourage you to get your hearing tested. Leaving hearing loss untreated doesn’t make it go away; in fact, it can have massive implications on your wellbeing, mental health, personal safety and relationships.
Schedule a Hearing Test
The first step in managing hearing loss is to get your hearing tested. This will identify the severity and type of your hearing loss. From there, you can work with an audiologist to come up with a customized hearing loss treatment plan that addresses your needs. Often, this includes hearing aids, but there are other options, as well. Call us at Raleigh Capitol Ear, Nose, Throat & Allergy today to learn more or to schedule an appointment for a hearing test.