One of the worst things that could happen to you is losing your hearing – or, at the very least, experiencing a deterioration in the quality of your hearing. Like your eyes, your ears are crucial for living a healthy and happy life. Akin to losing your eyesight, losing your hearing will lead to isolation, sadness, and frustration. But do you know what the signs of hearing loss are? It’s time to become acquainted.
Here are ten most common hearing loss symptoms in adults:
1. Listening with High Volumes
Have you noticed that when you turn on the television or the radio, you tend to crank up to high volumes? By now, if you’re living with someone, they’re probably telling you to turn it down or that it’s just too loud. But you may not hear them for two reasons: The TV or radio is too loud and your hearing is going south. Indeed, these are definitely signs of hearing loss symptoms.
2. Difficulty Hearing Speech
You meet with friends, you have dinner with family, and you are doing work with your colleagues. As you enter into conversation, you have a hard time hearing them. The first time, you blame the exterior noise. The second time, you pass the buck onto the loud music above you at the restaurant. The final time, you start thinking that maybe it is you that is the problem.
3. Thinking Others Are Mumbling
When you talk to somebody else, you can’t hear them quite right. You need to constantly lean in with your ear facing the person’s mouth. Is it you or is the other person mumbling too much? Because we never want to blame ourselves, we tend to conclude that the person mumbles, mutters, or speaks too fast. Unfortunately, nine times out of 10, it is likely you.
4. Asking People to Repeat Themselves
“Come again?”
“Excuse me?”
“I beg your pardon…”
If these phrases dominate your conversations, then perhaps you have a hearing problem, which requires an appropriate hearing test and examination. By constantly asking others to repeat themselves will not only jeopardize your relationships, but it will also leave you feeling isolated, which doesn’t help your hearing plight either.
5. Ringing in the Ears
Tinnitus is one of the worst problems to have. It is annoying to constantly have ringing, hissing, buzzing, and whistling in the ears. But it’s more than an annoyance. Tinnitus can lead to something serious:
- Meniere’s disease (abnormal ear fluid pressure).
- TMJ.
- Head injuries.
- Acoustic neuroma.
- Muscle spasms in the inner ear.
There are not too many treatments for tinnitus. Some things can reduce these hearing loss symptoms, like hearing aids and (surprisingly) antidepressants.
6. Missing Consonants
There are various types of hearing loss and, thus, will experience different symptoms. Ostensibly, individuals with high-frequency hearing loss tend to miss a whole host of things, particularly consonant sounds, including p, f, s, sh, th, and v, which makes it harder to understand particular words.
7. Exhausting After Social Affairs
If you think you have hearing loss, then you understand how exhausting it is to attend social events. You are engaging with multiple people, you’re trying to hear a wide variety of conversations, and you’re doing your best to participate. It can be quite taxing when your hearing dissipates.
Eventually, as time goes by and your hearing goes untreated, you will just stay home and choose to isolate yourself from the rest of humanity. And that isn’t necessarily a good thing.
8. Loud Noises
We are doing bad damage to our hearing with headphones. We are putting Giuseppe Verdi’s “Requiem” on full blast on our iPods, we are blasting podcasts, and we are increasing the volume of our conversation with our significant others on the old smartphone. But this is horrendous for the health of our hearing. Moving forward, do your best to limit your exposure to such loud noises, whether it is turning down the volume on your stereo or avoiding restaurants that turn up their speakers.
9. Earwax
There is one thing that should be a part of your morning or evening routine: Clean your earwax. Grab a cotton swab (q-tip) and partially go into your ear and lightly clean the wax. A buildup of wax is unhealthy for your ears – and completely unhygienic.
10. Unidentified Symptoms
If you have any unidentified hearing loss symptoms, it would still be a reasonable thing to get a comprehensive test of your hearing. Like your eyes and teeth, you want to ensure that everything is doing well in your ears. If something is breeding, then it could lead to something fatal in the future. There is no harm in speaking with your doctor, going for a test, and determining if everything is perfect.
Do you have a hard time hearing but don’t want to admit? Well, it is time to do something about it. You shouldn’t ignore it any longer, otherwise, it will only worsen. So, even if you are embarrassed or think it makes you seem older than you are, you should consult with your doctor, get testing done, request treatment if necessary, and even wear a hearing aid if it will help.
