Recognizing when you need some medical advice is usually fairly easy. You know you need to go see a doctor right away if you break your leg, for instance. With situations like this, simply “toughing it out” isn’t an option. If you want your bones to heal properly, you need to get them treated as soon as possible.
But with regard to hearing aids, it isn’t always so easy to identify when it’s time to get some assistance. Hearing loss normally progresses really slowly over time. This means recognizing when to get treatment for hearing loss can be difficult.
That’s why it’s a good plan to keep an eye out for some specific indicators that you might be losing your ability to communicate. If you detect any, it may be time to talk to us about your first pair of hearing aids.
Hearing aids and hearing loss
Hearing aids are the main form of treatment for hearing loss. But everyone who has some level of hearing loss won’t necessarily need hearing aids. In cases where patients have very slight hearing loss, hearing aids won’t always be practical. Because of this, we may want you to wait before starting to use them. It’s also feasible that we could instruct you to only wear your hearing aids when you’re in certain situations.
This means that just because you are diagnosed with hearing loss doesn’t mean you will necessarily require hearing aids.
But in many cases hearing aids will be the best option. Because hearing loss can be a sneaky and slow condition, many people don’t get a diagnosis until there’s been significant damage. Getting your hearing tested regularly is the key to catching hearing loss early and possibly mitigating the need for hearing aids.
And if that’s the case, you’re most likely thinking: how can I tell if I require hearing aids?
Signs you need a hearing aid
Immediate communication issues can be the consequence of hearing loss. But lots of times you don’t even realize that hearing loss is the reason for those communication problems. So, at what stage will a hearing aid help you?
Watch out for these signs:
- You have a difficult time hearing conversations in loud places: When people ask, “What are the signs of hearing loss?”, this one almost always comes up. If you have a hard time hearing conversations in loud places, that’s usually 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. As a result, there’s a lot of muddled conversations.
- Phone conversations sound muffled: Even the best phone speakers have a habit of flattening a voice. That can make it difficult to understand, particularly if you have hearing loss. Again, certain frequencies are missing and the outcome is that it’s really difficult to hear those voices.
- The volume on your devices is getting very loud: Hearing loss could be the culprit if you continuously need to turn the volume of your devices up. If you find individuals around you complaining about the loud volume of your devices, this is especially relevant.
- 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 might have hearing loss. But hearing loss is curious, it tends to impact particular frequencies before others. Which means that the great majority of sounds may seem ordinary but things in the high frequencies (such as certain vowels) will be distorted. Consequently, you might have a hard time making out what people are saying to you.
So how should you deal with it?
When you break a bone, it’s obvious what to do: you go to the doctor! But what do you do when you start to experience the symptoms of hearing loss? What degree of hearing loss calls for hearing aids? Well, that’s difficult to answer, but when you start noticing these symptoms, it’s a good idea to make an appointment with us. We’ll be able to evaluate the health of your hearing and find out just how serious your hearing loss may or may not be.
And if you do end up needing hearing aids, a hearing assessment will help identify the best device for your hearing needs. This means you’ll be able to get back to spending quality time with your friends and family, you’ll understand your grandkids when they call you on the phone, your co-workers at your morning meeting, and your friends at the pub.
Call us for a hearing exam so we can help you improve your quality of life.
