What is your favorite song? How would you feel if you could not hear it anymore? Hearing loss is a problem that many of us will experience at some point in our lives. It is not just something that is experienced when you get older. In fact, hearing loss is something that could affect you at any age, and you may even be experiencing it right now.
Hearing loss is something that very often creeps up on us slowly, we may not notice the subtle and gradual changes that are occurring until other people point out that we may have a problem. Hearing loss can have a number of knock-on problems. You may struggle in social situations because you can’t hear fully, and this can leave you feeling isolated or lonely.
Tinnitus
One common hearing problem that can come on at any age is tinnitus. If you have a constant ringing, buzzing, or humming sound in your ears, then this could be tinnitus. While this can be quite irritating, for some people it can be very uncomfortable and can cause you to lose sleep. The ringing may override many of the other sounds around you making it hard for you to hear.
You can learn more about tinnitus here.
Other Hearing Problems That Are Common In All Ages
Regardless of your age, you could experience some of the following symptoms of hearing loss:
- Missing words or whole chunks of conversations.
- Not being able to hear people when you speak with them on the phone.
- Not being able to hear the TV or music system and needing to turn the volume out loud.
- Not being able to hear individual voices close to you when you are out in a busy environment.
- You start to mishear things.
Sometimes you may not realize you are experiencing these symptoms and won’t be until someone mentions that they notice that you mishear a lot of things, that your TV is too loud, or that you ask people to repeat things constantly, that you may realize that you may have hearing loss.
What To Do About Hearing Loss
If you are experiencing any of the signs and symptoms of hearing loss you should make an appointment with an audiologist.
The audiologist will talk to you about your general health and lifestyle and look for indications behind the cause of your hearing loss.
Your audiologist will then get you to perform some hearing tests with them that will help to identify the range of your hearing loss and what could be causing it.
From this information, they will be able to decide whether your hearing loss can be treated, either by having ear wax removed or, in the instance that there is an underlying infection, through medication.
In some cases, you may be advised to get a hearing aid. Hearing aids are very lightweight, comfortable, and will enhance your hearing. They needn’t get in the way of any aspect of your life.
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