Not being able to hear properly can affect the quality of your relationships, career, and health. Is someone speaking quietly or are you hard of hearing? Here’s how to tell.
The organisation Healthy Hearing point out “good indicators” that you may not be able to hear as well as you once could.
An example is noticing tinnitus, which can be descried as a ringing in the air.
Another example is household members – or visiting family or friends (in your social bubble) – telling you that the television or radio is really loud.
People can struggle with hearing either high-pitched or low-pitched sounds, or both.
And one ear may be able to hear better than the other ear, so you may notice you lean in to a conversation with a certain ear.
Difficulties with high-pitched sounds can make certain constant sounds harder to hear; these would include: s, sh, f, v, th, f, p.
You may have stopped birds chirping outside too, even though they’re still physically there.
Will hearing aids make my hearing worse?
The simple answer to this is no. “They’ll only improve your ability to communicate,” assured Healthy Hearing.
This can help ease feelings of loneliness, as you’ll be able to understand what people are saying to you over the phone and in person.
Hearing aids can also help to preserve the hearing ability you already have.
This is because untreated hearing loss can affect your ability to understand speech.