In some cases, it’s easy to know when you require medical help. You know you need to go see a doctor right away if you break your leg, for example. With situations like this, simply “toughing it out” isn’t a possibility. If you want your bones to heal correctly, you need to get them treated as soon as possible.
It’s not always that clear cut in terms of hearing aids, however. Hearing loss is normally a developing condition. This means knowing when to get treatment for hearing loss can be difficult.
That’s why it’s a good idea to watch out for some particular indicators that you might be losing your ability to communicate. If you notice any, it may be time to consult us about your first set of hearing aids.
Hearing loss and hearing aids
Hearing loss is primarily treated with hearing aids. But that doesn’t mean everybody who has hearing loss will immediately need a pair of hearing aids. In cases where patients have very slight 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 feasible that we could direct you to only use your hearing aids when you’re in particular situations.
Essentially, the threshold for requiring hearing aids is not always a diagnosis of hearing loss.
However, hearing aids will be the ideal answer in many situations. Because hearing loss can be a sneaky and gradual condition, lots of people don’t get a diagnosis until there’s been considerable damage. Getting your hearing assessed regularly is the key to catching hearing loss early and possibly mitigating the need for hearing aids.
So how will you know if you have hearing loss?
Indications you need a hearing aid
Immediate communication issues can be the result of hearing loss. But lots of times you don’t even realize that hearing loss is the cause of those communication issues. So, when is it time for a hearing aid?
Watch out for these signs:
- You have a hard time following conversations in noisy places: When people ask, “What are the signs of hearing loss?”, this one is almost always mentioned. If you have a hard time hearing conversations in noisy 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. Because of this, there’s a lot of muffled conversations.
- 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 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 don’t think they have hearing loss or need hearing aids because the overall volume they hear seems fine. But hearing loss is funny, it tends to affect particular frequencies before others. Because of this, things like vowel sounds in the higher register can sound distorted. As a result, you might have a hard time making out what people are saying to you.
- Phone conversations sound muddled: Even the highest quality phone speakers have a habit of flattening a voice. If you have hearing loss, this can make it even more difficult to understand conversations. Again, certain frequencies are cut out and the result is that it’s really difficult to hear those voices.
So what should you do?
Clearly, you know exactly what you have to do when you break a bone! But what do you do when you begin to experience the symptoms of hearing loss? What degree of hearing loss requires hearing aids? Well, that’s difficult to answer, but when you begin 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 find out just how severe your hearing loss may or may not be.
And if you do wind up needing hearing aids, a hearing test 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.
Contact us to schedule your hearing test, we can help you understand if you’re suffering from hearing loss.