Recognizing when you need some medical advice is normally pretty easy. You know you need to go see a doctor right away if you break your leg, for instance. You may need a splint or a cast or supportive device, but the thing is that you’re unlikely to try “toughing it out”. If you want your bones to heal properly, you need to get them taken care of as soon as possible.
It isn’t always that clear cut in terms of hearing aids, however. Hearing loss usually advances very gradually over time. This means it isn’t always simple to know when you may need to start using hearing aids or to put off seeking treatment you know could be beneficial.
So keeping an eye out for signs that your hearing is going is a good plan. If you notice any, it might be time to talk to us about your first set of hearing aids.
Hearing aids and hearing loss
Hearing loss is primarily treated with hearing aids. But that doesn’t mean everybody who has hearing loss will immediately need a set of hearing aids. In cases where patients have very slight hearing loss, hearing aids won’t always be helpful. We might want you to hold off on using hearing aids as a result. It’s also possible that we could advise 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 automatically require hearing aids.
However, hearing aids will be the best option in many circumstances. Because hearing loss can be a sneaky and slow condition, many individuals don’t receive a diagnosis until there’s been considerable damage. But if you come in to see us regularly, you might be able to catch your hearing loss early, and, as a result, you may not require hearing aids right away.
And if that’s the situation, you’re probably thinking: how can I tell if I require hearing aids?
You need hearing aids if you detect these indicators
Hearing loss is one of those conditions that can produce immediate communication obstacles. But a lot of times you don’t even realize that hearing loss is the cause of those communication issues. 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 culprit if you continuously need to turn the volume of your devices up. This is particularly true if you keep moving that volume knob higher (and even more especially relevant if the people around you complain about how loud your media is).
- When people speak, you can’t always make out 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 the thing about hearing loss is that specific frequencies of sound usually go before others. Which means that the vast majority of sounds could seem normal but things in the high frequencies (such as particular vowels) will be distorted. This could cause you to have a difficult time understanding what people are saying.
- You can’t understand people on the phone: Voices typically sound a little flat on even high-quality phone speakers. If you have hearing loss, this can make it even harder to understand conversations. It can be really difficult to hear voices as an outcome of the loss of these frequencies.
- You have a difficult time following conversations in noisy places: When people ask, “What are the signs of hearing loss?”, this one almost always comes up. If you have difficulty hearing conversations in loud 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 you lose when you have hearing impairment. A lot of conversations get muffled as a result.
So what should you do?
Obviously, you know precisely what you have to do when you break a bone! But what about when you notice these indications that you might need a hearing aid? What degree of hearing loss requires hearing aids? Well, that’s difficult to answer, but when you start experiencing these signs, it’s a good idea to schedule an appointment with us. We will be able to inform you about how severe your hearing loss is.
A hearing test will also help you get the best possible hearing aids for your needs if you do indeed need hearing aids. Then you will be able to get back to enjoying good conversations with your friends and family members and doing the things you love.
Call us for a hearing test so we can help you improve your quality of life.
