Hearing Loss Early Warning Symptoms

Hearing loss has many forms – it might occur gradually (for example, as the result of aging) or all of a sudden (as the result of an injury or trauma). The hearing loss itself can be short-term or permanent, and may vary from mild (having trouble understanding conversations) to severe (total deafness). Moreover, a person can experience a loss of hearing in either one ear or both ears.

You will find a number of signs and symptoms linked to hearing loss, one of the more common of which is a growing difficulty hearing or understanding conversations. People’s voices may seem to be at too low a volume (as if the speakers were far away), or sound muffled . Alternatively, you might be able to hear people talking but notice that you’re having difficulty differentiating individual words; this could become more evident when multiple people are speaking, or when you are in busy rooms.

Other usual symptoms of hearing loss include increasing the volume on your TV or radio, having more difficulty hearing women’s voices than men’s, and being unable to differentiate sounds such as ‘s’ and ‘th’ from one another. If you feel pain, tenderness, or itching in your ears, have periods of dizziness or vertigo, or hear a constant buzzing or ringing sound, these symptoms can also be indications of hearing loss.

Because it can occur gradually, many people with hearing impairment are not aware of it. Or they might notice it but display “denial behaviors” to try to disguise or conceal their hearing loss from other people. Examples of these types of signs include having to ask people to repeat themselves frequently, avoiding conversations and social situations, acting as if you’ve heard stuff that you really didn’t, and emotions of isolation or depression.

If you have experienced any of these signs or symptoms, schedule an appointment with one of our specialists. We can help by starting with a hearing test to see if you do have hearing loss, and if you have, we can help determine what to do about it.