December 29, 2022
The New Year offers new beginnings. This is a great time to commit to your health and wellness by prioritizing your hearing health. You can be proactive about your health by scheduling an appointment for a hearing test in the new year.
Recognizing Hearing Loss Symptoms
Hearing loss is widely undertreated. In fact, only a third of people who could benefit from treatment, actually receive it. Also, it takes an average of 7 years for people to address hearing loss symptoms. Contributing to this delay in treatment is the fact that hearing loss typically occurs gradually so symptoms can be overlooked for quite some time. This highlights the importance of being aware of symptoms which can help you more readily recognize symptoms. Common symptoms include the following:
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Tinnitus: this describes a ringing or buzzing noise in the ears.
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Sounds are slurred, muffled, or distorted.
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Difficulty hearing in environments with background noise.
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Asking others to repeat themselves, speak louder, and/or slower.
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Lip reading to help identify individual words.
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Frequently responding with “huh” or “what”.
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Needing to turn up the volume on electronic devices like the TV and phone.
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Hearing more clearly out of one ear compared to the other.
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Moving to a quieter space to hear better.
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Feeling left out or excluded from conversations.
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Experiencing fatigue after conversations and social activities.
These symptoms can be mild to severe depending on the degree of hearing loss you are experiencing. Symptoms strain communication which has multifaceted effects on everyday life including impacting relationships, social life, work performance, and increasing health risks. If you recognize any of these symptoms, it is important to intervene as soon as possible by having your hearing health evaluated.
Benefits of Treating Hearing loss
Hearing loss treatment is life-changing. Treatment allows people to hear sounds they likely haven’t heard in quite some time. Hearing aids are incredibly innovative and savvy devices that are used as the most common form of treatment for hearing loss. These devices provide the ears and brain with ample support by helping absorb, amplify, and process speech as well as sound. This offers countless benefits including:
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Strengthening communication: hearing aids alleviate symptoms which make it challenging to hear and have conversations. This allows people to engage in conversations with greater ease and comfort. People’s hearing capacity is maximized which supports effective communication. People with hearing loss are more able to readily hear, respond, and communicate which strengthens communication.
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Improving relationships: people with hearing loss don’t often realize how their loved ones are impacted. But studies show that people often report feeling unheard or ignored by their loved one with hearing loss. This produces tension, frustration, and distance in relationships over time. Treatment alleviates this by creating greater capacity for conversations and spending easeful time with others. People can engage in everyday activities without the disruption of symptoms. This supports spending quality time with others and having unrestricted conversations which improves relationships.
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Supporting social connection: social withdrawal tends to be a major effect of untreated hearing loss. This is used as a way to cope with strained communication by avoiding conversations altogether. Hearing aids help with this by making it easier to hear, especially in environments with background noise, like social settings. The support hearing aids provide allow people to navigate social activities and participate fully which enriches social connection.
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Boosting overall health: extensive research highlights how hearing aids improve overall health. Hearing aids strengthen cognitive functions and brain health as well as increase spatial awareness and safety. This reduces the risk of cognitive decline, falls, and accidental injuries which untreated symptoms are commonly associated with.
These benefits profoundly enhance quality of life and everyday wellness. Treatment improves relationships, health , and social life which are key to living fulfilling lives.
Prioritize Hearing Health in the New Year
You can prioritize your hearing health with one simple step, and that is to schedule an appointment for a hearing test. This involves a painless and noninvasive process that identifies your hearing needs. Contact us today to schedule an appointment for a hearing consultation. We look forward to supporting you as you prioritize your health and wellness in the new year!