Knowing when you need some medical advice is normally fairly easy. When you break your leg, for instance, you know you should go to the doctor (or the emergency room, depending on the scenario). You might 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 mend properly, you need to get them treated as soon as possible.
But when it comes to hearing aids, it isn’t always so easy to identify when it’s time to get some help. Hearing loss is typically a progressive condition. This means it isn’t always simple to know when you might need to start using hearing aids or to put off finding treatment you know could be helpful.
So keeping an eye out for indications that your hearing may be going is a good plan. If you notice any, it might be time to consult 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 automatically need hearing aids. In situations where patients have very mild hearing loss, hearing aids won’t always be helpful. Because of this, we might want you to wait before beginning to use them. It’s also possible that we could instruct you to only use your hearing aids when you’re in specific situations.
Essentially, the threshold for requiring hearing aids isn’t always a diagnosis of hearing loss.
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 substantial damage. But if you come in for a hearing exam regularly, you might be able to catch your hearing loss early, and, because of this, you may not require hearing aids immediately.
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
Instant communication challenges can be the consequence of hearing loss. But a lot of times you don’t even comprehend that hearing loss is the reason for those communication issues. So, when is it time for a hearing aid?
Here are some of the typical signs you should watch out for:
- When you’re in very loud locations, you have a difficult time following conversations: This is probably one of the most prevalent symptoms of hearing loss. If you have trouble hearing conversations in loud places, that’s usually a sure sign that you have hearing loss. This happens because your ears are not receiving as much information as they used to, and your brain isn’t really able to fill in the gaps as easily. A lot of conversations get muddled as a result.
- You can’t understand people on the phone: Even the highest quality phone speakers have a habit of flattening a voice. If you have hearing loss, this can make it even harder to understand conversations. Once again, specific frequencies are missing and the outcome is that it’s very difficult to understand those voices.
- You listen to the radio or TV at really loud levels: Hearing loss could be the cause if you continually need to crank the volume of your devices up. If you find individuals around you complaining about the loud volume of your devices, this is especially true.
- When people speak, you can’t always make out what they said: Many individuals feel like the overall volume of life is fine so they never consider that they might have hearing loss. But the thing about hearing loss is that certain frequencies of sound tend to go before others. Which means that the vast majority of sounds might seem ordinary but things in the high frequencies (like particular vowels) will be distorted. As a result, you might have a tough time understanding what people are saying to you.
So what should you do?
When you break your leg, it’s clear cut what to do: you go see the doctor! But what about when you experience these signs that you might need a hearing aid? How bad does hearing loss have to be to require a hearing aid? Well, that’s difficult to answer, but when you start detecting these symptoms, it’s a good idea to schedule an appointment with us. We’ll be able to assess the health of your hearing and determine just how severe your hearing loss may or may not be.
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 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 test, we can help you recognize if you’re suffering from hearing loss.