In some cases, it’s easy to know when you need medical advice. You know you need to go to the doctor right away if you break a bone, for example. With scenarios like this, simply “toughing it out” isn’t an option. If you want your bones to mend correctly, you need to get them treated as soon as possible.
It’s not always that clear cut when it comes to hearing aids, though. Hearing loss normally progresses very gradually over time. This means recognizing when to get treatment for hearing loss can be tricky.
So watching out for indications that your hearing may be going is a good idea. It’s likely time to call us for a consultation if you do notice any.
Hearing loss and hearing aids
Hearing aids are the main method of treatment for hearing loss. But that doesn’t mean everyone who has hearing loss will instantly need a set of hearing aids. Hearing aids won’t always be helpful in cases of minor hearing loss. Consequently, we might want you to wait before starting to use them. It’s also feasible that we could direct you to only use your hearing aids when you’re in particular situations.
In other words, the threshold for needing hearing aids isn’t always a diagnosis of hearing loss.
However, hearing aids will be the ideal option in many cases. Because hearing loss can be a sneaky and gradual condition, lots of people don’t get a diagnosis until there’s been substantial damage. Getting your hearing examined regularly is the key to catching hearing loss early and possibly mitigating the need for hearing aids.
And if that’s the situation, you’re probably thinking: how can I tell if I require hearing aids?
Signs you need a hearing aid
Instant communication issues can be the result of hearing loss. The interesting thing, though, is that you don’t always realize that those communication difficulties are due to hearing loss. So, at what point will a hearing aid help?
Watch out for these indicators:
- The volume on your devices is getting very loud: Hearing loss could be the culprit if you continually need to turn the volume of your devices up. If you find people around you complaining about the loud volume of your devices, this is particularly relevant.
- When people talk, you can’t always understand what they said: Many individuals don’t think they have hearing loss or need hearing aids because the total volume they perceive seems fine. But hearing loss is funny, it tends to affect certain frequencies before others. Which means that the vast majority of sounds could seem normal but things in the high frequencies (like particular vowels) will be distorted. Consequently, you may have a hard time making out what people are saying to you.
- You have a difficult time hearing conversations in loud places: 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 difficulty filling in the missing information that gets lost with hearing impairment. A lot of conversations get muddled because of this.
- Phone conversations sound muffled: 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. It can be extremely difficult to hear voices as an outcome of the loss of these frequencies.
So how should you deal with it?
Clearly, you know precisely what you have to do when you break a bone! But what do you do when you begin to notice the symptoms of hearing loss? What level of hearing loss calls for hearing aids? Well, that’s difficult to answer, but when you begin noticing these signs, it’s a good plan to schedule an appointment with us. 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 requirements if you do indeed need hearing aids. This means you’ll be able to get back to spending quality time with your friends and family, you’ll hear your grandkids when they give you a call, your co-workers at your morning meeting, and your friends at happy hour.
Contact us to schedule your hearing exam, we can help you recognize if you’re suffering from hearing loss.
