Have you ever tried to ignore a toothache? They can be quite rough. At some point, you end up having no other option but to see a dentist. And when your eyesight begins to lose focus it’s the same. You’ll probably contact an ophthalmologist when you start to have trouble reading street signs. But the concern is, when your hearing begins to go you may not show such urgency.
This would most likely be an oversight. Neglected hearing loss can be responsible for considerable health issues (especially mental problems). Of course, you can only neglect your diminishing hearing if you’re actually aware of it. And that’s problem number two.
Signs You Might Have Hearing Loss
We typically don’t appreciate our hearing. A loud concert? No biggie. Blasting ear pods? That’s just how you prefer your podcasts. But each of those decisions, particularly over time, will have a significant affect on your general hearing.
It can, unfortunately, be difficult to notice these impacts. Hearing loss can sneak up on you incrementally, with symptoms that progress so slowly as to be effectively invisible. So you should take some time to educate yourself on some basic red flags (and to be certain you don’t neglect them):
- You encounter sudden problems with short term memory
- You usually need to crank up the volume on your devices
- You feel an unexplained sense of fatigue or have excessive trouble falling asleep at night
- Voices of those near you (family, co-workers, friends) sounds dull or distorted
- You can’t keep a set of earbuds because you keep blowing the speakers
- It’s challenging to understand conversations in noisy or crowded settings
- You have a particularly difficult time making out consonants when listening to casual speech
- You find yourself asking people around you to repeat what they said frequently
It’s fairly well recognized what these red flags and signs indicate. If your hearing loss comes on especially slowly, your brain will immediately start compensating for any hearing loss that occurs, making you rather unaware, at first, to your symptoms. That’s why any of these warning signs should be taken seriously, which means you need to schedule an appointment to see your hearing specialist.
What Going to Happen if You Neglect Your Hearing Loss?
Some individuals are, certainly, stubborn. Or the idea of wearing hearing aids is just too unwelcome. They have this fear that wearing a hearing aid is some sort of direct sign for old age (as if continuously asking people to speak louder is a sign of never ending youth). But that isn’t actually the case (most hearing aids can be very discreet, and being able to converse fluently is a benefit, too).
Nevertheless, it’s worth talking about what could occur if you neglect your hearing loss:
- Your hearing could worsen: Without a hearing aid or increased hearing protection, You’ll keep turning up your devices. Or you won’t utilize earplugs when you attend rock concerts. Which means you’ll keep doing harm to your ears and your hearing will almost definitely keep declining because of it.
- You could have tense relationships: There’s something that happens when you have a difficult time comprehending your family and friends: you start having fewer conversations with them. You stop calling to say hi, you don’t keep up with what’s going on with them, you disengage. And that can damage some of those relationships, specifically if the problem is hearing loss that you have kept secret (and not because you’re angry at them).
- You could suffer from depression and cognitive decline: As your relationships fray and going out becomes more difficult, you may begin to experience symptoms of depression. You might also begin to experience some mental decline if your brain doesn’t receive the auditory activation that it’s used to, your neural physiology starts to experience specific changes. This can result in long term cognitive difficulties if your hearing loss isn’t dealt with.
Don’t Neglect Your Hearing Loss
Down the road, clearly, bigger and more significant issues can be triggered by hearing loss. But the inverse is true: recognizing and dealing with your hearing loss can enhance your quality of life considerably. Your every day life is more full and your relationships improve when you begin to hear better. And your general health will be enhanced by consulting a hearing specialist or at least downloading a noise monitoring app.
You absolutely shouldn’t neglect the health problem of hearing loss. A happier life begins when you find the correct treatment. Manage your hearing loss before it gets too severe to ignore.