Symptoms of Hearing Loss

“….deafness cuts us off from people”, H. Keller

Our brains are remarkably adaptable, and they can sometimes compensate for mild to moderate hearing loss, particularly if it occurs gradually over time. However, there are limits to this compensation, and there are often signs that indicate hearing loss, such as:

Symptoms

• • You can hear them speaking but can’t make sense of what they are saying.
  • Some people’s voices are consistently harder to hear than others.
  • You believe that most people mumble.
  • You understand speech perfectly in one-on-one conversations in a quiet room, but it becomes impossible to follow a conversation when background noise is present or several people are talking at once. In fact, you’re the only one in the room who is struggling to hear.
  • You experience an on-and-off ringing sound in your ears.
  • You are hearing and responding incorrectly more often due to mixing up words such as “hot” for “got,” “white” for “wife,” “pill” for “pick,” “snow” for “throw,” “book” for “took,” “ten” for “pen,” “gale” for “male.”
  • You ask people to repeat themselves more often.
  • It’s hard to separate speech from noise.
  • You smile and nod when someone speaks to give the impression you are listening when, in fact, you do not understand what was said.
  • You feel exhausted from the excessively high concentration required while listening.
  • You don’t hear birds chirping anymore.

  • People often  give you odd looks or simply say “never mind.”

  • May perceive people, especially children, as speaking too quickly

    People with hearing loss typically wait an average of 10 years before seeking help. During this time, they often place the burden of communication on others instead of addressing the underlying issue. However, as communication becomes increasingly challenging, isolation and health risks escalate.

Hearing loss may be less noticeable to

• Hearing loss may be less noticeable to younger people because it is commonly associated with aging.
• Hearing loss may be less noticeable to people with good health because it is often associated with declining health.
• Hearing loss may be less noticeable to people who have never worked in a noisy environment.¹¹