You know you’re feeling cranky these days but you’re not exactly sure why. Well, you did feel left out earlier this morning when no one bothered to bring you into the meeting discussion at the office and that was irritating. The other night your daughter seemed annoyed with you when you asked her to turn the tv volume up over and over again resulting in her abruptly leaving the house. Why would she do that?
Did you ever stop to think that perhaps you could be suffering from hearing loss?
As you get older hearing loss can sneak up on you and over 40 million individuals in the US suffer with it. And the problem goes beyond just your ears. Research indicates that even mild hearing loss puts you at risk for memory problems, dementia, and even depression. You might have a manageable medical condition causing your hearing loss but you think it’s merely an indication of aging. Maybe, you missed significant conversational cues and your coworkers didn’t actually leave you out of the meeting after all. The truth is, if you can’t hear properly during your everyday life, it can become incredibly frustrating.
Discover more about hearing loss
Learning a little more about what you’re struggling with is a practical place to begin. For many individuals, hearing loss is a natural side effect of getting older. But for other people, it might be caused by years of noise overexposure. Noise-related hearing loss can be caused by many noise sources, like mowing the lawn and leaf blowing, listening to loud music, and driving in loud traffic with the window down. The fragile mechanisms in your ear can be damaged by lots of sounds in the world.
Long-term diseases that become more prevalent with 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 normally take their hearing for granted, so when it starts to fail they don’t recognize the signs:
- You’re always asking people to repeat themselves or even worse, saying ‘what’ a lot
- You always feel like you are being excluded from the conversations
- When there’s background noise, like an AC or fan running, you struggle to hear words
If you detect any of these hearing loss symptoms, it’s no wonder you’re cranky! Depression and social solitude can be the consequence of feeling separated from your world.
Make a plan to treat hearing loss
Begin by asking a family member or a loved one if they have seen you working hard to keep up with conversations or if you say “What?” a little too often. It’s a crucial discussion even if it’s a challenging one. If the answer is ‘yes’ then scheduling a hearing examination should be your next step and will simplify things for you. Ask your loved one to go along with you to your appointment. A supportive, calming presence can be extremely helpful.
Your hearing test will both gauge whether you’re dealing with hearing loss and how significant it has become. If hearing loss is determined, we will advise the next strategy for you depending on the results of the exam. In most cases, that will involve getting hearing aids. You’ll definitely be able to get a set of hearing aids that will best fit your lifestyle since there are so many styles and options to pick from.
Deciding on quality hearing aids
We’ll have recommendations that will be best suited for your distinct type of hearing loss. You will probably need to try a number of brands and models before you find the best fit for your particular taste and hearing requirements. Hearing aids don’t simply amplify sound these days. 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 come with the features that will best fit your lifestyle and needs.
Also, don’t forget to consider styles. They come in many fashionable colors or with no color at all, so they are practically invisible.
If you think you’re dealing with hearing loss, make an appointment with our qualified hearing specialists right away. It’s time to get out of that cranky mindset and we can help!
Call Today to Set Up an Appointment
References
https://www.ncoa.org/adviser/hearing-aids/hearing-loss-america/