What are 5 Early Signs of Hearing Loss?

Determining whether or not you have hearing loss requires a hearing test conducted by a professional, but if you suspect you may have hearing loss here are some indications.

Five signs that you have hearing loss

1. Hearing loss caused by aging is known as presbycusis. Those who suffer from this type of hearing loss tend to lose their ability to hear high-frequency noises, which include consonant sounds such as F, K, P, S, Sh, T, and V. These sounds help you distinguish the differences between similar sounding words such as “show” and “throw”. As a result, you may believe that people are mumbling, misunderstand conversations, or give an inappropriate response. This is the experience of hearing, but not understanding. 
2. Have you experienced the inability to hear common sounds? Think about the last time you heard birds chirping. Have you been able to hear a car driving by, or your own car’s turn signal when it is blinking? Do you have difficulty hearing women or children speak? Higher pitched sounds or voices reach 2,000 Hz or more. These are the frequencies that those who have high frequency hearing loss find difficult to hear.   
3. Do you find it more difficult to understand conversations that take place in crowded areas? Another sign of high-frequency hearing loss is the failure to recognize speech when you are in a busy area. You may decide to avoid social gatherings all-together because understanding conversations have become so challenging.  
4. Do you struggle to listen to conversations, and find yourself feeling exhausted as a result? This struggle and exhaustion may cause listening fatigue. You may experience something similar to listening to a fading radio station or poor phone connection, except it’s happening during a face-to-face conversation with someone. Hearing is a brain exercise, so if your auditory system is not functioning properly, your brain utilizes more energy to process sound waves that your inner ear receives. Essentially, the signal between your auditory system and brain is damaged. 
5. Do you suffer from tinnitus (hearing a ringing or buzzing noise that is not emanating from an outside source)? According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) approximately over 50 million individuals have some severity of tinnitus. This makes it one of the most prevalent health conditions in the U.S. Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and age-related hearing loss can cause tinnitus. In these cases, researchers believe tinnitus is the brain’s process of replacing missing frequencies that it has stopped receiving from the auditory system. 

Solutions to Your Hearing Loss

High-frequency hearing loss is generally a type of sensorineural hearing loss, indicating that hair cells located in the inner ear have been damaged. These hair cells translate sound into signals and transfer them to along the auditory nerve and into the brain in order to be interpreted. Sensorineural hearing loss is caused by a multitude of things, including disease, genetics, infection, or noise exposure. There’s no cure for sensorineural hearing loss, but it can be treated with hearing aids or cochlear implants. It is important to get diagnosed early and seek treatment. Early diagnosis allows for early intervention, which will help preserve the hearing abilities that you still have. Additionally, hearing loss that goes untreated has been associated with mental health conditions like anger, anxiety, decrease in cognitive abilities, depression, frustration, isolation, and loneliness. 

Get help from a professional hearing aid provider

The majority of modern hearing aids are discreet, stylish and advanced. They can strengthen the sounds in high frequencies that you may be missing, without amplifying the lower frequencies that you are able to hear. 

Even if you are not experiencing any signs of hearing loss, it’s best to get a yearly hearing test. Treat your hearing health like your vision or overall health care. Do not wait for these issues to arise.  

Get a free hearing test from us at Pure Sound Hearing Aids. Our hearing instrument specialists will evaluate your test results and discuss the best options that we have available for you. 

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