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Hearing Loss
- How do I know I have hearing loss?
- Tips to maintain hearing health
You may have hearing loss, and not even be aware of it. People of all ages experience gradual hearing loss, often due to the natural aging process or long exposure to loud noise. Other causes of hearing loss include viruses or bacteria, heart conditions or stroke, head injuries, tumors, and certain medications. Treatment for hearing loss will depend on your diagnosis.
If you have any of the following, consider seeing an ENT specialist for a formal hearing test to discuss your options to improve your hearing:
- You have a problem hearing over the telephone.
- You have trouble following the conversation when two people are talking at the same time.
- People complain that you turn the TV volume too high.
- You have to strain to understand conversations.
- You miss hearing some common sounds like the phone or doorbell ring.
- You have trouble hearing conversations in a noisy background, such as at dinner.
- You get confused about where sounds come from.
- You misunderstand some words in a sentence and need to ask people to repeat themselves.
- You have trouble understanding the speech of women and children.
- You have worked in noisy environments (such as assembly lines, construction sites, or near jet engines).
- Many people you talk to seem to mumble, or don't speak clearly.
- People get annoyed because you misunderstand what they say.
- You misunderstand what others are saying and make inappropriate responses.
- You avoid social activities because you cannot hear well and fear you'll respond improperly.
- Ask a family member or friend to answer this question: Do you think this person has a hearing loss?
Tips to maintain hearing health
- If you work in noisy places or commute to work in noisy traffic or construction, choose quiet leisure activities instead of noisy ones.
- Develop the habit of wearing earplugs when you will be exposed to noise for a long time.
- Earplugs quiet about 25 dB of sound and can mean the difference between a dangerous and a safe level of noise.
- Try not to use several noisy machines at the same time.
- Try to keep television sets, stereos and headsets low in volume.
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