What did you say? Can you speak up, please? If you’ve recently noticed yourself repeating these phrases a few times a day, it doesn’t necessarily mean you are having hearing loss symptoms. It’s possible you’re dealing with allergies, a common cold, or even just some wax build up in your ears. But let’s say the feeling persists for a few weeks. You can’t seem to get a grip on the sounds around you. You’re asking your friends and family to repeat themselves more times than is comfortable. The stress creeps in, and you begin to wonder: am I losing my hearing?
When people lose their hearing, it’s common to feel stressed and anxious. Some people start to withdraw from their favorite activities as a way to avoid the struggle. Thankfully, there is hope after hearing loss. The very first step is getting it diagnosed. If you’d like to uncover how to know if you have hearing loss, read on for six signs you might be losing your hearing.
1. You can’t keep up when multiple people are speaking at once.
At your weekly work meetings, you struggle to follow the conversation going on around you. One co-worker speaks, then another chimes in, and before you know it, you are completely lost in the conversation. It’s embarrassing when your boss asks you what you think. You stammer out your answer, hoping it makes sense. Or, you might say you have nothing to add, simply to hide the fact that you couldn’t hear the discussion.
It is typical for those with hearing loss to have a hard time following a conversation when it’s more than a back and forth between two people. If this scenario occurs often, you might have hearing loss.
2. Everyone mumbles.
Do you feel like the problem with kids these days is they don’t speak clearly? True as that may be, if you find yourself often grumbling that people don’t talk clearly to you anymore, it could be a sign that you have hearing loss. What commonly happens with hearing loss is that the ability to hear high-frequency sounds decreases.
Unfortunately for us, our alphabet is made up of many high-frequency sounds, which makes human speech increasingly difficult to understand. Most of our high-frequency sounds (such as s, f, and t) come up often in speech, leaving those with hearing loss symptoms struggling to piece together a string of words.
So before you say, “Quit your mumbling,” to your teenage son for the thousandth time, you might consider having your hearing checked.
3. You have a hard time focusing on a conversation in the presence of background noise.
Imagine this scenario: you’re driving around town in your car running errands. The kids are in the back seat; your spouse is riding shotgun. The wind hits the car as you speed down the highway, the tires roll noisily along the road, and your spouse turns the radio from a station to static and back to a station.
Usually, you manage just fine with this kind of background noise. Lately, though, you notice you can’t quite make out what your spouse is saying from the seat next to you. And when your daughter tells you about her day at school from the back seat, you can’t understand her.
Struggling to make out conversational speech sounds in the presence of background noise is one of the most common hearing loss symptoms.
4. You keep the volume up higher than your family likes.
When you watch television, you turn the volume way up. It’s comfortable for you that way. After all, the volume can go up that high for a reason, right? Your spouse complains that it’s too loud and turns it down, which causes you to miss most of the movie because you can’t hear the dialogue. Turning the television volume up too high not only does more damage to your hearing, but it is also a surefire sign that you need to get checked for hearing loss.
5. In conversation, you feel confused and frustrated more often than you’d like to admit.
When you have conversations with your loved ones, co-workers, or other people as you’re out and about, you often walk away frustrated, as if you’ve somehow missed something. At first, it might be hard to put a finger on why you feel that way.
That’s because hearing loss can be so subtle and gradual that sometimes you don’t realize it’s even happening. If having a simple conversation with someone has become a burden or a chore, you might be suffering from hearing loss.
6. You feel stressed when engaging in social situations or avoid them altogether.
You used to love going out to dinner, attending ball games, and hanging out with co-workers every Friday. Lately, though, the idea of hanging out with a group of people as you struggle to keep up with conversation has you saying “no” to every invitation. For many people dealing with hearing loss symptoms, the stress that comes with straining to hear friends and family at social gatherings is enough to keep them at home.
Avoiding these get-togethers because you struggle to hear can lead to more than just isolation–it can lead to depression. It is important to know that having hearing loss does not mean the demise of your social life. Getting your hearing checked is the first step to regaining control of your life.
Have Your Hearing Checked and Regain Control of Your Life
If you have noticed any or all of these hearing loss symptoms and are ready to take the next step, contact Chambers Hearing Centers. With almost two decades of experience, our expert staff is equipped and knowledgeable when it comes to hearing loss causes, symptoms, and options. Our number one goal is to increase the quality of life for those who struggle with hearing loss. Contact us today for a complimentary hearing consultation.