(Newswire.net — July 13, 2020) — Statistics show that hearing loss occurs mostly in people aged 60 years and above. 25% of people aged 65 to 74 have a disabling hearing loss, and the percentage doubles in people above 75 years.
Hearing loss can cause accidental falls that may make you incur a lot of medical expenses. Hearing loss also impacts your social behavior by making you feel isolated and eventually, depressed. Understanding some of the common signs of hearing loss is, therefore, essential so that you can see a doctor for a hearing test when you notice the signs.
1. You feel extremely tired after attending a social gathering.
Your brain compensates for the loss of one sense through another sense. If you have hearing loss, your eyes compensate for what you cannot hear by reading the lips of the people you interact with. To do that, however, your brain requires a lot of focus to make sense of the conversations you have.
The more conversations you engage in, especially in a social gathering, the more your brain needs to focus. As a result, the social gatherings leave you feeling tired because your brain is burning a lot of energy to keep up with conversations. Soon enough, you find yourself withdrawing from social gatherings because you strain a lot.
2. You frequently ask people around you to repeat their words.
A hearing loss makes it difficult for you to hear consonants. Consonants make up 21 of the 26 alphabets. You will, therefore, have a problem hearing many words clearly and thus, will find yourself asking people to repeat what they say. At times, the person may repeat their words, but you will still not hear them. Since you are embarrassed to ask the person to repeat a second time, you adopt a habit of nodding your head and smiling during conversations.
3. You increase the volume of your television to levels considered too high by those around you.
Television shows are a mix of dialogue and sound effects. The sound effects make it difficult for you to hear the dialogue. As a result, you increase the television or radio volume to hear the dialogue. If you have a hearing loss, the people around you might complain that the volume is too high for them.
4. There is clogging in your ears.
Clogging in your ears is normal when your ears have too much wax or fluid. However, if your ears are clean, a clogging feeling can imply that you have hearing loss. The clogging feeling will make sounds muffled, especially the voices of children. One of the earliest signs of hearing loss is the loss of the ability to hear high-pitched sounds. You will, therefore, ask more women and kids to repeat their words than you will men.
5. Keeping up with a conversation in a social event is difficult.
In a social place such as a restaurant, background noise is low-pitched. Most commonly used words are comprised of high-pitched consonants. Since hearing loss makes you have a difficult time hearing consonants and high-pitched sounds, you tend to drift away from conversations you have. Instead, the low-pitched background noise is more audible than the person speaking in front of you.
6. Tinnitus.
Tinnitus refers to a ringing sound in your ear. The sound can be constant, forcing you to start talking loudly, no matter how close a person is to you, because you think the ringing drowns your voice. Eventually, people around you will approach you and tell you that you speak too loudly.
You are susceptible to suffer from the above signs of hearing loss if your profession involves dealing with a lot of noise. If you’re experiencing any of these signs already, your doctor may suggest using a device to help you hear better. With today’s advanced technology, there are now digital hearing aids that are rechargeable models that are more discreet and have more incredible features. Musicians and people working in construction sites, airports, and factories are, therefore, advised to take regular hearing tests.