You don’t abruptly lose your hearing one day when you wake up. For most people, hearing loss comes in degrees, especially when it comes to aging. Age-related hearing loss affects about one in three people in this country. Often, the change isn’t even noticed until after the age of 75. You might not realize the trouble right away even though some symptoms show up earlier.
The initial symptoms of progressive hearing loss are subtle. Recognizing them as soon as possible is essential to slow down the progression of hearing loss or other health problems related to hearing loss. However, if you’re not sure what the signs are, you can’t recognize them. You could be suffering from hearing loss if you have any of these eight barely noticeable indicators.
1. Ringing in The Ears
This is one that people have a tendency to ignore if it doesn’t become too distracting and it’s really not very subtle. Tinnitus, the medical term for the ringing, is a typical sign of hearing loss.
Triggers are a major factor with tinnitus so it can be sporadic, too. Perhaps the ringing only happens when your tired or in the morning for instance.
Tinnitus is a sign that something else is happening with your body so it should never be ignored. Besides hearing loss, tinnitus can be caused by high blood pressure, trauma, or a circulatory problem. If you want to know for sure, you will need to see your doctor.
2. Talking on The Phone is Stressful
Here are some common excuses for phone issues:
- My phone is damaged from being dropped.
- My phone is old.
- I’m not used to my phone’s newer technology yet.
Think about why you dislike using our phone. Get someone you know to test the phone for you if the volume is all the way up and you still don’t hear it. If you can’t hear the conversation but they can then you have a hearing problem.
3. It Seems As if Everyone Mumbles Now
It used to be just the kids, but recently, the news anchor, your neighbor, and your spouse all have taken to muttering when they speak to you. Could it actually be possible that all of a sudden everyone in your life has poor enunciation.
It’s much more likely that you might not be hearing words in the same way. Mumbling or dropped off consonants such as “S” or “T” is one of the first indications that your hearing is changing.
4. What Did You Say?
You might not even realize that you can’t hear conversations any more until somebody points out that you say “What? a lot. Usually, the first to recognize you have hearing loss are people you see every day like coworkers or family members. If someone says something about it, pay attention.
5. Some People You Hear Fine But Others Not so Much
Maybe you can understand the neighbor perfectly, but when his wife joins the conversation, everything gets muddled up. It’s a common symptom of sensorineural hearing loss or damage to the nerves that send electrical messages to the brain.
Her voice isn’t as clear because it’s a higher pitch. You may have the same issue with your grandchild or daughter. Even technology like the microwave or an alarm can throw a loop into things. Those sounds are also high pitched.
6. Going Out Isn’t as Much Fun as it Once Was
Again, there are those people who mumble, and that’s not fun. Also, being in noisy places makes understanding what people say that much harder. Something as simple as the AC popping on during dinner or the sound of people chatting around you makes it impossible to hear anything.
7. You Are More Tired Than Normal
It’s can be fatiguing struggling to comprehend what people are saying. Your brain has to work overtime to process what it does hear, so you are more exhausted than normal. Your other senses may also undergo changes. What’s left for your other senses when your brain is working at 110 percent of its energy to comprehend words? It’s time to have your ears tested if your eye examination came back okay.
8. That Dang TV
It is easy to blame the TV or the service provider when you have to keep turning up the volume, but if this is going on all the time, maybe it’s time for a hearing exam. When you have hearing loss it can be hard to follow dialog. There is the background music confusing things, for instance. What about the other sounds in the room such as the AC or the ceiling fan? If the volume keeps going up, then your hearing could be faltering.
The good news is all you need to do to know for certain is a professional hearing examination. Hearing aids should get things back to normal if it turns out that you have a hearing problem.