Daily Deals from a Nerd Mom

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You might think it would be obvious when your hearing is failing, but it turns out that many people wait up to 10 years to see a hearing health professional before getting assistance. The good news is that there are several ways you can tell if your hearing is failing. Here are some of the most obvious telltale signs.

You are frequently asking people to repeat themselves

Frequently asking people to repeat themselves is one of the most obvious signs that you have a problem with your hearing. If you’re saying “what” or “huh” often in conversations and it’s becoming a habit that you notice, then you may want to get your hearing checked out.

If you’re relying on visual cues, this is another sign. For example, if you’re watching people’s mouths intently when they speak, this could be a way for you to unconsciously fill in the blanks. Perhaps you can’t hear the words that they’re saying, but you can see their lips moving and use that to determine what they’re trying to communicate to you.
If you notice these problems, go to a doctor of audiology and get a proper audiogram done. Audiograms tell you what level of hearing loss you have and which parts of the spectrum are most challenging for you to hear, such as high-pitched sounds

You can’t hear people in noisy rooms

Another flavor of the same problem is not being able to hear people in noisy rooms. For example, you can have a perfectly good conversation with somebody in a quiet room, but the moment you go to a restaurant or a crowded space, the background noise makes it much more challenging to figure out what they’re saying. People with hearing loss often find it difficult to separate ambient noise from the speech in front of them. If you find yourself in this situation, go to your audiologist and get them to provide you with a full characterization of your hearing loss and possibly prescribe you hearing aids.

You feel tired when listening to people

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Another sign of hearing loss is that you feel mentally or even physically exhausted when you listen to people. Listening fatigue is a real phenomenon, especially during long meetings or social dinners. Afterward, you feel completely drained because your ears aren’t working optimally. This occurs because your brain has to exert enormous effort just to decode words. You are using all of your cognitive resources to try to figure out what’s going on, because you are utilizing parts of the brain that don’t specialize in auditory processing.

You have buzzing or ringing in your ears

Finally, you may have a hearing problem if you have persistent buzzing or ringing in your ears. This condition, called tinnitus, can take various forms and can affect either one or both of your ears. It’s a very frequent issue in people with early-stage hearing loss. The good news is that you can treat tinnitus in multiple ways. One of the best ways is to simply replace the tinnitus sound with white noise from a new set of hearing aids.