When should you have your hearing tested? Here are four signs that you need to get your hearing assessed.
Recently, my kids complained about how loud my TV was. You know what I said to them? I said, “What”? It was a joke. I thought it was funny. But it also wasn’t. I have needed to turn the TV up louder and louder lately. And that got me thinking that perhaps it’s time for a hearing assessment.
There aren’t all that many excuses not to schedule yourself for a hearing test. They’re not invasive, there’s no radiation, you don’t have to worry about discomfort. You’ve most likely just been putting it off.
Considering how much untreated hearing loss can affect your health, you really should be more diligent about making sure your hearing impairment hasn’t gotten worse.
There are lots of good reasons why hearing evaluations are important. It’s often hard for you to identify the earliest indications of hearing loss without one, and even mild hearing loss can affect your health.
So how can you recognize if you should schedule an appointment? Here are some clues that it’s time.
Signs you should get a hearing test
It’s time to get a professional hearing assessment if you’ve been noticing symptoms of hearing loss recently. Naturally, if things are hard to hear, that’s a pretty strong indication of hearing loss.
But that’s not the only indicator, and there are some signs of hearing impairment that are much less obvious:
- Persistent ringing in your ears: A typical sign of damaged hearing is a ringing in the ears, also called tinnitus. If you’re experiencing some ringing that won’t go away, it might or might not be a sign of hearing loss. But it’s certainly an indication that you should get a hearing assessment.
- You’re always missing text messages: Your phone (or mobile device, as they’re called now) is designed to be loud. So if you keep noticing text messages or calls that you missed, it’s most likely because you didn’t hear them. And perhaps, when you think about it, you’re failing to hear more common sounds.
- It seems as if people are mumbling when they talk: Often, it’s clearness not volume you need to be concerned about. Trouble following along with conversations is one of the first signs that something is going wrong with your hearing. It might be time for a hearing assessment if you detect this happening more and more often.
- It’s difficult to hear in noisy places: Have you ever had a difficult time keeping up with conversations because of background noise in a crowded room? If this seems familiar you could be developing hearing loss. As your hearing progresses from healthy to impaired, one of the first warning signs is the loss of the ability to isolate distinct sounds.
Here are some other circumstances that show you should schedule a hearing screening:
- You’re experiencing episodes of vertigo
- You have an ear infection and it won’t clear up
- Your ears aren’t removing earwax thoroughly
- It’s hard to determine the origin of sounds
- You regularly use certain medications that are recognized to have an impact on your hearing.
This checklist is by no means exhaustive. For example, if your TV’s volume is maxed and you still can’t hear it. It would be a good plan to follow up on any of these signs.
Regular examinations
But what if, to your knowledge, you haven’t encountered any of these possible signs of hearing impairment? Is there a guideline for how often you should schedule a hearing exam? There’s a guideline for everything else, right, so there’s got to be a guideline for this. There are, in fact, some suggestions.
- Sometime after you turn 21, you need to get a hearing assessment. That way, you’ll have a standard of your mature hearing.
- Every three years or so will be a good schedule if your hearing seems normal. But make sure you mark these appointments in your calendar or medical records because it’s easy to forget over these huge periods of time.
- You’ll want to get assessed immediately if you notice any signs of hearing loss and after that once a year.
It will be easier to identify any hearing loss before any red flags become obvious with routine examinations. The earlier you find treatment, the better you’ll be able to protect your hearing in the long run. So it’s time to give us a call and schedule a hearing assessment.