Hearing loss is common – more than 48 million people across the country are experiencing it right now. Understanding the early signs of this condition can help you seek treatment quickly. And as with most medical conditions, the sooner you seek help, the better the outcome.
Voices Sound Muffled
Hearing loss occurs when the hair cells in the cochlea are damaged. The hair cells responsible for detecting high-pitched sounds are the first to go. This makes it hard to understand women, children and anyone else with a high-pitched voice.
Conversations Are Hard to Follow
Background noise is typically low-pitched while sounds like f and s are high-pitched. When you begin having trouble hearing high-pitched tones, you may notice that you can hear the background noise better than speech.
Hearing loss connected with aging also makes it harder for your brain to distinguish speech from background noise.
Social Events Are Tiring
When you cannot hear clearly, your brain has to work extra hard to fill in the gaps to make sense of what people are saying. This takes a lot of mental focus.
This additional effort can leave you feeling tired after an event that requires you to talk and engage with more than a few people.
Lip Reading Becomes Your Focus
Have you noticed when talking to someone you are focusing more on their lips rather than looking them in the eye? This is because when your brain is missing key information from your ears, it tries to make up for it in other ways. By watching someone’s lips while they talk, this can give you additional information as to what sounds they are making.
Ears Feel Clogged
Your ears can feel clogged if there is too much wax or fluid in your ears. If your doctor looks into your ears and determines there is nothing there but you still have a clogged feeling, this is a good indication that there is something more going on.
TV Volume Requires Adjusting
Televisions shows involve a mix of dialogue, sounds effects and music. When you can hear the bass tones better than the high tones, the music can drown out what the actors are saying. To compensate, you will find yourself turning up the volume to an unsafe level.
Recognizing these early signs can help push you to seek treatment. Contact the hearing experts at Total Hearing Care of Dallas to start your journey toward better hearing.
