Recognizing when you need some medical advice is normally fairly easy. You know you need to go to the doctor right away if you break your leg, for example. With scenarios like this, simply “toughing it out” isn’t a possibility. At least, not for very long (particularly if you want your bones to repair themselves correctly).
It’s not always that obvious when it comes to hearing aids, however. Hearing loss typically progresses very gradually over time. That means it isn’t always easy to know when you may need to begin wearing hearing aids or to delay seeking treatment you know could be helpful.
So watching out for indications that your hearing is going is a good plan. It’s probably time to call us for a consultation if you do notice any.
Hearing loss and hearing aids
Hearing aids are the primary method of treatment for hearing loss. But that doesn’t mean everybody who has hearing loss will immediately need a pair of hearing aids. Hearing aids won’t always be helpful in cases of mild hearing loss. We might want you to hold off on using hearing aids because of this. It’s also possible that we could direct you to only wear your hearing aids when you’re in particular situations.
In other words, the threshold for requiring hearing aids isn’t always a diagnosis of hearing loss.
But in many cases hearing aids will be the best solution. Many individuals won’t get their hearing loss diagnosed until it becomes more severe because hearing loss develops gradually and frequently goes undetected for a while. But if you come in to see us regularly, you may be able to catch your hearing loss early, and, as a result, you may not need hearing aids immediately.
So how will you know if you have hearing loss?
Signs you need a hearing aid
Instant communication challenges can be the result of hearing loss. The curious thing, though, is that you don’t always comprehend that those communication difficulties are due to hearing loss. So, when is it time for a hearing aid?
Look out for these signs:
- You listen to the radio or TV at really loud levels: Hearing loss could be the culprit if you constantly need to crank the volume of your devices up. This is especially true if you keep turning that volume knob higher (and even more especially true if the people around you complain about how loud your media is).
- When people talk, you can’t always make out what they said: 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. Due to this, things like vowel sounds in the higher register can sound distorted. This could cause you to have a hard time understanding what people are saying.
- Phone conversations sound muffled: Voices typically sound a little flat on even high-quality phone speakers. That can make it tough to understand, particularly if you have hearing loss. Once again, particular frequencies are missing and the outcome is that it’s really difficult to understand those voices.
- When you’re in noisy locations, you have a tough time following conversations: This is probably one of the most common symptoms of hearing loss. One of the surest signs of hearing loss is that you have trouble following conversations in noisy locations, like bars or restaurants. That’s because your brain has difficulty filling in the missing information that gets lost with hearing impairment. Because of this, there’s a lot of muddled conversations.
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 about when you detect these indications that you may need a hearing aid? What level 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’ll be able to assess the health of your hearing and find out just how severe your hearing loss may or may not be.
A hearing test will also help you get the most effective hearing aids for your needs if you do indeed need hearing aids. 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.
Give us a call to schedule your hearing exam, we can help you understand if you’re suffering from hearing loss.