Sometimes, it’s easy to know when you require medical help. You know you need to go to the doctor right away if you break your leg, for instance. With scenarios like this, simply “toughing it out” isn’t a possibility. 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 typically advances really slowly over time. That means it’s not always simple to know when you might need to start wearing hearing aids or to put off finding treatment you know could be helpful.
So watching out for indications that your hearing is going is a good plan. 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 loss is primarily managed with hearing aids. But everybody who has some degree of hearing loss won’t automatically need hearing aids. In cases where patients have very mild hearing loss, hearing aids won’t always be helpful. Because of this, we might want you to wait before starting to use them. In addition, you may be advised to wear hearing aids only in certain situations.
This means that just because you’re diagnosed with hearing loss doesn’t mean you will automatically require hearing aids.
But in many cases hearing aids will be the best solution. Many people won’t get their hearing loss diagnosed until it becomes more severe because hearing loss progresses gradually and often goes undetected for a while. 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?
Indications you need a hearing aid
Hearing loss is one of those conditions that can create instant communication challenges. The funny thing, though, is that you don’t always realize that those communication obstacles are the result of hearing loss. So, when is it time for a hearing aid?
Watch out for these indicators:
- When people speak, you can’t always understand what they said: Many people feel like the total volume of life is fine so they never consider that they might have hearing loss. But hearing loss is curious, it tends to affect certain frequencies before others. Which means that the vast majority of sounds might seem normal but things in the high frequencies (such as particular vowels) will be distorted. Consequently, you might have a difficult time understanding what people are saying to you.
- Phone conversations sound muffled: Voices usually sound a bit flat on even high-quality phone speakers. That can make it hard to understand, especially if you have hearing loss. It can be really challenging to hear voices as an outcome of the loss of these frequencies.
- The volume on your devices is becoming really loud: Hearing loss could be the cause if you constantly need to turn the volume of your devices up. If you find people around you complaining about the high volume of your devices, this is especially relevant.
- When you’re in very loud settings, you have a tough time following conversations: When people ask, “What are the signs of hearing loss?”, this one almost always comes up. One of the surest signs of hearing loss is that you have trouble following conversations in noisy settings, like bars or restaurants. That’s because your brain has trouble filling in the missing information that you lose when you have hearing impairment. Lots of conversations get muffled because of this.
So what can you do?
When you break your leg, it’s clear cut what to do: you go see the doctor! But what do you do when you begin to experience the symptoms of hearing loss? How bad does hearing loss have to be to call for a hearing aid? Well, that’s hard to answer, but when you start noticing these signs, it’s a good idea to schedule an appointment with us. We’ll be able to evaluate the health of your hearing and ascertain 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 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.
Call us for a hearing test so we can help you improve your quality of life.
