Sometimes, it’s easy to know when you require medical help. When you break your leg, for example, you know you should go to the doctor (or the emergency room, depending on the scenario). With situations like this, simply “toughing it out” isn’t an option. If you want your bones to mend properly, you need to get them treated as soon as you can.
It’s not always that obvious when it comes to hearing aids, however. Hearing loss is normally a developing condition. This means it’s not always simple to know when you might need to start using hearing aids or to put off seeking treatment you know could be helpful.
So watching out for signs that your hearing is going is a good idea. If you detect any, it might be time to talk to us about your first pair of hearing aids.
Hearing loss and hearing aids
Hearing loss is mainly treated with hearing aids. But that doesn’t mean everybody who has hearing loss will immediately need a set of hearing aids. Hearing aids won’t always be practical in cases of mild hearing loss. We may want you to hold off on using hearing aids as a result. It’s also feasible that we could advise you to only wear your hearing aids when you’re in particular situations.
This means that just because you’re diagnosed with hearing loss doesn’t mean you will automatically require hearing aids.
However, hearing aids will be the best option in many cases. Many people won’t have their hearing loss diagnosed until it becomes more severe because hearing loss progresses gradually and often goes undetected for a while. But if you come in to see us regularly, you may be able to catch your hearing loss early, and, because of this, you may not need hearing aids right away.
And if that’s the case, you’re most likely thinking: how can I tell if I require hearing aids?
Indications you need a hearing aid
Instant communication problems can be the result of hearing loss. But a lot of times you don’t even comprehend that hearing loss is the cause of those communication issues. So, when is it time for a hearing aid?
Here are a few of the typical signs you should look out for:
- When people speak, you can’t always make out what they said: Many individuals feel like the overall volume of life is fine so they never imagine that they may have hearing loss. But the thing about hearing loss is that certain frequencies of sound often go before others. Due to this, things like vowel sounds in the higher pitches can sound distorted. This could cause you to have a hard time making out what people are saying.
- The volume on your devices is getting really loud: Hearing loss could be the culprit if you continuously 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 relevant.
- Phone conversations sound muffled: Voices usually sound a little flat on even high-quality phone speakers. That can make it difficult to understand, especially if you have hearing loss. It can be really challenging to hear voices as an outcome of the loss of these frequencies.
- When you’re in very loud locations, you have a difficult time following conversations: This is probably one of the most common symptoms of hearing loss. If you have difficulty hearing conversations in noisy places, that’s usually a sure sign that you have hearing loss. This occurs because your ears aren’t receiving as much information as they used to, and your brain isn’t really capable of filling in the gaps very easily. Because of this, there’s a lot of muffled conversations.
So what can you do?
When you break a bone, it’s obvious what to do: you go see the doctor! But what about when you detect these indications that you may need a hearing aid? How bad does hearing loss need to be to require a hearing aid? Well, that’s hard to answer, but when you start detecting these signs, it’s a good idea to schedule an appointment with us. We’ll be able to evaluate the health of your hearing and determine just how serious your hearing loss may or may not be.
And if you do end 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.
Call us for a hearing test so we can help you improve your quality of life.