Am I Going Deaf?

Admitting that you may be losing your hearing or even going deaf can be very hard and frustrating. Many people prefer to regard the first symptoms of hearing loss as insignificant, until their condition worsens to the point that it starts to affect the quality of their life and relationships in a negative way. Therefore, if you notice that your hearing abilities have begun to diminish, you should not postpone the visit to an audiologist for too long. It is very likely that you are already experiencing a certain level of hearing loss and your condition will not improve on its own if you do not seek help.

There is a list of symptoms to watch out for, as they signify potential problems:

• When you are watching TV, you often have to turn the volume up in order to listen to the news ora favourite programme. Similarly when talking on the phone, the volume settings are often set to the maximum possible level.
• It becomes hard to register high-pitched sounds such as a baby’s cry or a female voice. In fact if you find it more difficult to hear children and women than men, this may signify that your hearing needs to be tested.
• It becomes difficult to follow a conversation, even if it takes place in a quiet surrounding and you are communicating with just one person. The sufferer may hear the voice of the person they speak with, but they cannot actually distinguish all the words.
• Noisy environments are becoming more and more difficult to handle as you cannot focus on what you want to hear and ignore the background noises.
• You often ask people to repeat again what they just told you.
• When you try to follow a conversation, it often feels like the other participants are mumbling.

One of the simplest and fastest ways to initially test your hearing abilities is to take an online test. Hearing Direct also offers you such a possibility - a free online hearing test that is easy to make and requires just a few minutes of your time. However, although such a test can confirm your suspicions, it will not give you a final and accurate measurement and detailed description of your condition. This can only be done by a professional audiologist and it is highly recommended to visit such a specialist as soon as you feel even the slightest concern about your hearing.

Hearing loss cannot be cured by taking medicines, but in the case where it is discovered at an early stage, people have better chances to control it and lessen the negative impact it may have. Although hearing cannot be restored, people can continue to enjoy life by wearing hearing aids. A hearing specialist can advise on the type of device that will be the most appropriate.