The ears are an organ that works all the time. Sounds surround us even when we are asleep. The soft noise of home appliances, the sounds of vehicles on the street, or the sound of the clock – all this surrounds us, regardless of whether we are resting at the moment or not. The brain processes the sounds that surround us, allowing us to identify them. But what if the brain loses this ability?
Problematic, inaudible sounds
It happens, however, that due to various factors – some sounds are no longer audible to us. The brain cannot process quieter or louder tones and therefore, we cannot hear them.
Unfortunately, hearing loss is not just a matter of not hearing certain low-volume sounds. Unusual as it may seem – when it comes to age-related hearing deterioration, we very often lose the ability to hear higher tones first. In such a situation, it may be problematic to hear, inter alia, women’s voices, birds singing, or a kettle’s whistle.
Signs of hearing deterioration
People who are hard of hearing often do not realize that they cannot hear certain sounds. This is perhaps a bit more noticeable to the relatives of such a person, but sometimes relatives do not want to tell the hard of hearing person about their condition, not wanting to hurt them. This is a big mistake and makes the hearing impaired person lose the opportunity to improve their quality of life. To determine if you have a hearing impairment, you need to answer the following questions:
- Do you hear any unpleasant, buzzing, squeaking, or ringing noises in the ears?
- Does the TV have to be turned on much louder than it used to be in order for the sounds to be heard?
- Is the sound of other people speaking audible, but the words themselves are difficult or even impossible to recognize?
- Does having conversations in noisy and crowded places cause significant problems?
- When talking to others, is it necessary to ask to repeat or to speak louder?
- Do social meetings cause a lot of fatigue?
If the answer to at least some of these questions is yes – there is a high probability that we experience a deterioration of hearing to a greater or lesser extent. However, after answering the issues raised, it is worth taking the online hearing test if you are not sure. This is a very quick and simple method to determine if you are actually hard of hearing.
How to deal with it?
Deterioration of hearing may have different causes, and hence – the actions taken are also slightly different in different cases. In the simplest situation, the loss of adequate audibility may be associated with the formation of earwax plugs in the ears – then it is enough to take care of proper hygiene or possibly go to an ENT specialist for a professional procedure.
If your hearing is impaired for other reasons, it is worth going to a specialist who will help you deal with the situation or, possibly, with the selection of a hearing aid.
