Signs of Hearing Loss

Does it seem like the people around you are mumbling and not speaking clearly? Hearing loss can affect your ability to hear certain sounds, which affects speech clarity. Depending on your type of hearing loss, women’s and children’s voices may seem less clear due to the higher pitch or softer voice.

Restaurants and other places like malls, parties or cafes are considered more complicated listening environments due to background noise like clinking of dishes and other conversations. When someone has hearing loss, presence of background noise makes more challenging to focus on an individual voice and follow a conversation.

Difficulty hearing in social gatherings with competing voices and background noise can make you want to avoid them all together. You may find yourself sitting out of conversations, or leaving events early due to misunderstandings, frustration, boredom or embarrassment.

When you have hearing loss, your brain does not receive all the auditory information it needs to efficiently process sound. This results in a greater cognitive effort to hear, leaving you feeling fatigued. This level of exhaustion can be exacerbated in scenarios where concentration is required, such as at meetings, conferences or ceremonies.

Do you notice your phone doesn’t seem loud enough or others comment on how loud you listen to the TV? Dialogue can be difficult to make out while background noise can seem to loud. This is a common complaint among those with hearing loss.

It’s usually the people closest to us that notice a person’s hearing loss first. It can be quite frustrating for your loved ones to constantly have to repeat themselves or even feel ignored. You may also feel as though everyone is always yelling at you. If you’ve noticed tension in your close relationships lately, it may be time to consider whether your hearing is the culprit.

If you’ve ever experienced an ear wax blockage, you are familiar with the feeling of plugged ears where sounds seem muffled and unclear. Hearing loss can often feel like clogged ears. After an ear examination, if there is no evidence of a blockage or infection, it could be a hearing loss.