Is your partner or relative convinced that your ears just aren’t what they used to be? It might be time to consider a course of action. If anything, it might prove them wrong!
There are many different reasons why it might be difficult for someone to tell if they had gradual hearing loss, but for most it is just the fact that there are usually no real symptoms, except in some cases tinnitus.
Someone in your family might suggest that you are ‘going deaf’ or you might find yourself turning up the television to a louder volume, however, this could be because of a number of factors. For example, the recording of sound might have been hampered during filming; therefore it is no fault of your own.
If an individual were suffering from gradual hearing loss, it would be really difficult for them to tell without professional advice. This is because, for someone to detect a change in their own hearing, it would require them to accurately hold memory about how they heard the exact same tone previously. This is just not possible in day-to-day life due to varied environmental conditions.
In comparison, sometimes some people convince themselves that they are suffering from hearing loss and needlessly panic, when in actual fact, they aren’t at all.
In other cases, people might not recognise a hearing loss, as they might not want to face up to the possibility. This is rather common and we believe that it is because hearing loss seems to carry a stigma, where it is only associated with the elderly. It is also common for us to try to prove someone wrong when they tell us that we might be suffering from a reduced ability to hear.
So what should you do to find out if you have hearing loss?
The only way to accurately determine if an individual is experiencing gradual hearing loss is to first determine a baseline sample of their hearing by undergoing a hearing test. This will provide a static measurement of an individual’s hearing and will help your audiologist to determine a benchmark from which future comparisons can be made.
This will also enable your audiologist to find out if there are any obvious initial signs of hearing loss. If there is, he or she will set out a course of action to help make sure it doesn’t get any worse.
You might come away from the initial hearing test with no signs of hearing loss, which is great. But the journey shouldn’t end there. In order to make sure you do not have gradual hearing loss, you should be getting your hearing checked on a regular basis. After all, how can we compare your hearing over time if you only come in for a hearing test once?
Routine monitoring of your hearing at a fixed time interval will allow your audiologist to make accurate comparisons of your baseline results. We all get our sight and teeth checked on a regular basis, so why should your hearing be neglected? We would recommend that you have your hearing checked at least once a year or more regularly if you are concerned. A hearing test is free, so there’s no reason not to do it.
If you would like to book a free hearing test at Bryce Hearing Services, please get in touch on 01224 647652.
