4 Common Signs of Hearing Loss

If you are facing an undiagnosed or untreated hearing loss condition, then you are at a high risk of experiencing a number of side effects, including: falls, stress, depression, reduced alertness levels, dementia and impaired memory.

Hearing changes is quite common as people age. However, just like aging, a person develops a hearing problem slowly. The start of a hearing issue due to age can be elusive. Therefore, it is crucial to pay close attention to the signs and symptoms of hearing loss.

Individuals with untreated hearing loss are more likely to develop depression, feel isolated and lonely, or develop memory issues later on. If you experience any of the below signs and symptoms, you need to consider visiting an hearing instrument specialist (HIS) or a doctor to get a hearing test.

Unclear or Muffled Voices

When an individual starts to age, the cells that detect high-pitched sounds are normally the first to fail. These are the cells found in the inner ear that help a person to hear. These can cause difficulties in understanding someone who has a high-pitched voice, such as kids and women.

 This is the reason why you may fail to hear crickets chirping at sunset or your microwave beep.

Failure to Follow a Conversation in a Noisy Place

The background noise at restaurants or malls is generally low-pitched, while many letters in speech like “s’’ and “f’’ are high-pitched. If you experience difficulties hearing high tones, you will hear the noise better than people’s speech near you.

 Age-related changes in how a person’s brain processes sound can also make it difficult for an individual to ignore background noise.

If you Get Exhausted after Social Occasions

When a person fails to hear the whole speech, their brain has to fill the gap for you to understand what other people are saying. This takes much of your focus, especially when many people are speaking at a time. All these efforts may leave you tired after a social occasion.

If you experience this issue, you should consider consulting an HIS. Professionally accredited hearing aids can significantly ease your strain. However, your HIS will help you to determine the best hearing loss treatment plan suitable for you.

If you watch Other People’s Lips Instead of Making Eye Contact

When a person’s senses fail to work properly like they used to, the brain tries to use other senses to make up for this; in this case, it focuses on a person’s eyesight. If you watch the shape of an individual’s lips when making “p’’ or “f” sounds, you can see these sounds even if you cannot hear them. This may make you shift your eyes to the person’s mouth when you are having a conversation. This can be a sign that you have hearing loss.  

Hearing loss is a treatable condition. Therefore, if you develop any of the above signs, you need to seek hearing loss treatment from a reputable hearing instrument specialist. Your hearing specialist will help you in developing the best treatment plan for you based on your condition.