Sometimes, it’s easy to identify when you require medical help. You know you need to go to the doctor right away if you break your leg, for instance. You might need a splint or a cast or supportive device, but the point is that you’re unlikely to try “toughing it out”. At least, not for that long (especially if you want your bones to mend themselves properly).
But with regard to hearing aids, it isn’t always so easy to identify when it’s time to get some assistance. Hearing loss usually advances very gradually over time. This means it isn’t always easy to know when you may need to start using hearing aids or to put off finding treatment you know could be helpful.
That’s why it’s a good idea to keep an eye out for some specific indicators that you might be losing your ability to communicate. If you notice any, it might be time to talk to us about your first pair of hearing aids.
Hearing loss and hearing aids
Hearing aids are the primary form of treatment for hearing loss. But everybody who has some degree of hearing loss won’t automatically need hearing aids. In cases where patients have very minor hearing loss, hearing aids won’t always be useful. As a result, we might want you to wait before beginning to use them. It’s also possible that we could instruct you to only use your hearing aids when you’re in specific situations.
In other words, the threshold for requiring hearing aids is not always a hearing loss diagnosis.
However, hearing aids will be the ideal answer in many cases. Because hearing loss can be a sneaky and gradual condition, lots of people don’t receive a diagnosis until there’s been substantial damage. But if you come in for a hearing exam regularly, you might be able to catch your hearing loss early, and, because of this, you might not need hearing aids right away.
So how will you know if you have hearing loss?
You need hearing aids if you recognize these indicators
Immediate communication challenges can be the consequence of hearing loss. The curious thing, though, is that you don’t always comprehend that those communication obstacles are the result of hearing loss. So, at what point will a hearing aid help you?
Here are some of the typical signs you should watch out for:
- You listen to the radio or TV at really loud volumes: Hearing loss could be the cause if you continuously need to crank the volume of your devices up. This is particularly true if you keep turning that volume knob higher (and even more especially relevant if the people around you complain about how loud your media is).
- When people talk, you can’t always make out what they said: Many individuals don’t think they have hearing loss or need hearing aids because the overall volume they hear seems fine. But hearing loss is funny, it tends to affect certain frequencies before others. Which means that the vast majority of sounds might seem ordinary but things in the high frequencies (such as particular vowels) will be distorted. As a result, you might have a hard time understanding what people are saying to you.
- When you’re in very loud locations, you have a hard time following conversations: This is probably one of the most prevalent symptoms of hearing loss. If you have trouble hearing conversations in loud places, that’s often a sure sign that you have hearing loss. This occurs because your ears aren’t receiving as much information as they used to, and your brain isn’t really capable of filling in the gaps very easily. A lot of conversations get muffled because of this.
- You can’t understand people on the phone: Voices usually sound a little flat on even high-quality phone speakers. If you have hearing loss, this can make it even more challenging to understand conversations. Once again, particular frequencies are cut out and the result is that it’s very hard to hear those voices.
So what should you do?
When you break your leg, it’s obvious what to do: you go see the doctor! But what do you do when you start to detect the symptoms of hearing loss? How severe does hearing loss have to be to call for a hearing aid? That’s not a very easy answer but you should make an appointment with us for a hearing assessment if you begin to detect any hearing loss symptoms. We’ll be able to evaluate the health of your hearing and determine just how severe your hearing loss may or may not be.
And if you do wind up needing hearing aids, a hearing test will help determine the best device for your hearing needs. 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.
Give us a call to schedule your hearing test, we can help you understand if you’re suffering from hearing loss.