Hearing loss may appear in many forms, and may appear suddenly, due to injuries or trauma, or over time, as the result of the aging process. The hearing loss itself may be transient or permanent, and may vary from mild (having difficulty understanding casual conversation) to severe (complete deafness). Additionally, a person might suffer a loss of hearing in a single ear or both ears.
Probably the most commonly reported symptom of hearing loss is progressively becoming unable to hear and understand conversations properly. You may perceive other’s speaking voices as if they were speaking too softly or are too far away to be heard properly, or their voices may appear to be muffled and indistinct. You might be able to hear people talking, but not be able to discern specific words, especially if multiple people are speaking or the conversations are taking place in environments with lots of background noise.
Other signs that you may have some hearing loss include having to turn up the volume on your TV or radio much higher than in the past, being unable to distinguish certain high-pitched sounds (such as ‘s’ or ‘th’) from one another, and having greater difficulty hearing men’s voices than women’s voices. If you have pain, irritation, or itching in your ears, have instances of vertigo or dizziness, or hear a constant ringing sound, these symptoms can also be indicators of hearing loss.
One of the challenges with hearing loss is that it may arise so gradually that people may not even realize it. This can occasionally lead to habits or behaviors intended to hide their hearing loss from other people. Examples of these kinds of signs include asking people to repeat themselves frequently, avoiding dialogues and social situations, pretending to have heard things that you really didn’t, and feelings of isolation or depression.
If these signs and symptoms sound familiar to you, it is time to schedule an appointment with one of our hearing specialists. We can help by administering tests to see if you do have hearing loss, and if you have, we can help determine exactly what to do about it.