You aren’t really certain why, but you’ve been feeling moody lately. Well, it was irritating earlier this morning when you felt left out of the meeting at the office. The other night your daughter seemed irritated with you when you asked her to turn up the volume of the TV over and over again resulting in her suddenly leaving the house. Why would she do that?
Perhaps the real issue is hearing loss!
Hearing loss is a problem for around 40 million people in the US and can sneak up on you with age. And the issue goes beyond only your ears. Research shows that even mild hearing loss puts you at risk for memory problems, dementia, and even depression. What you may believe is merely an indication of age, could actually be a treatable medical problem. Perhaps, you missed essential conversational cues and your coworkers didn’t actually leave you out of the meeting after all. Honestly, it can be exceedingly frustrating when you can’t hear during your day-to-day life.
Get the facts about hearing loss
Learning a little bit more about what you’re dealing with is a useful place to begin. For many individuals, hearing loss is a normal side effect of getting older. But for others, it may be caused by years of noise overexposure. Noise-related hearing loss can be caused by many noise sources, including mowing the lawn and leaf blowing, listening to loud music, and driving in loud traffic with the window down. The world is full of potentially ear-damaging sound that can deteriorate the delicate mechanisms that help you hear.
Long-term diseases that become more prevalent as we age are a potential factor as well. When you have conditions that cause problems with your blood pressure, your inner ear can become damaged.
Recognize the signs
People often take their hearing for granted, so when it begins to go they don’t notice the signs:
- You’re always asking people to repeat what they said or even worse, saying ‘what’ a lot
- Finding it difficult to understand words when there’s background noise like a fan or the AC
- You always feel like you are being left out of the discussions
Obviously, you’d be grumpy if you’ve been coping with any of these signs! Depression and social isolation can be the outcome of feeling detached from your world.
Create a plan to manage hearing loss
Begin by asking a family member or a loved one if they have noticed you struggling to hear conversations or if you say “What?” a little too often. It may seem like a challenging discussion but it’s a really worthwhile one. If the answer is ‘yes’ then scheduling a hearing examination should be your next step and will clarify things for you. Ask your loved one to go along with you to your appointment. It can be helpful to have a calm and supportive presence with you.
Your hearing test will both gauge whether you’re dealing with hearing loss and how extensive it has become. If hearing loss is identified, we will advise the next strategy for you depending on the results of the exam. In most cases, that will entail getting hearing aids. You’ll certainly be able to get a pair of hearing aids that will best fit your situation since there are so many styles and options to choose from.
Picking out quality hearing aids
We’ll have suggestions that will be best suited for your individual type of hearing loss. Take some to time find the right brand and model for your needs, this might require testing several styles and models. Today’s hearing aids do a lot more than just amplify sound. They can block out background sounds, connect to smartphones and computers, and even determine the direction that sound is coming from. Do some research to determine which brands and models have the features that will best fit your lifestyle and requirements.
Consider the style you want for your hearing aids, also. They come in lots of fashionable colors or with no color at all, so they’re practically invisible.
Schedule a hearing test with our qualified hearing specialists right away if you suspect you could be experiencing hearing loss. Don’t you think it’s time to find out and end your grumpy state of mind?
Call Today to Set Up an Appointment
References
https://www.ncoa.org/adviser/hearing-aids/hearing-loss-america/