You know what it’s like to try to ignore a toothache? It can be pretty difficult. Eventually, you’re absolutely begging to go to the dentist. And when your eyesight begins to blur it’s the same. You’ll probably call an ophthalmologist when you begin to have trouble reading street signs. But the concern is, when your hearing starts to go you might not show such urgency.
This would probably be a mistake. There are appreciable health problems (particularly mental health issues) that can develop as a result of untreated hearing loss. Obviously, you can only neglect your diminishing hearing if you’re actually aware of it. And there’s the second challenge.
You May Have Hearing Loss if You Notice These Symptoms
We commonly don’t appreciate our hearing. A high volume music event? No big deal.. Blaring ear pods? You prefer to listen to your podcasts this way. But your overall hearing will be considerably impacted by every one of these choices, particularly in the long run.
Sadly, those impacts could be difficult to notice. Hearing loss can creep up on you incrementally, with symptoms that advance so slowly as to be essentially invisible. So you should take some time to learn some primary red flags (and to be certain you don’t neglect them):
- You regularly have to ask individuals to repeat themselves
- You feel an unexplained sense of exhaustion or have excessive difficulty falling asleep at night
- When you listen to casual speech, you have an especially difficult time making out consonants
- You consistently blow the speakers in your earpods because you have the volume up too loud
- You notice sudden issues with short term memory
- Distorted or muffled sounding speech from people around you (family, co-workers, friends)
- It’s hard to understand conversations in noisy or crowded surroundings
- You usually have to crank up the volume on your devices
These signs, red flags, or warnings are all rather well recognized. At first, you will be somewhat oblivious to your symptoms, particularly if they come on gradually, because your brain will instantly begin to compensate. That’s the reason why you should make an appointment with your hearing care specialist because these warning symptoms should be taken seriously.
What Going to Happen if You Neglect Your Hearing Loss?
Some people are, certainly, obstinate. Or they just don’t favor the thought of wearing a hearing aid. They assume that wearing hearing aids causes them to appear old. But in actuality, most modern hearing aids are practically unseen (and it’s helpful when you can understand and engage in conversations).
Still, if you neglect hearing loss it could result in several issues:
- You could cause your hearing to get worse: Without a hearing aid or enhanced hearing protection, You’ll keep turning up your devices. Or you won’t utilize earplugs when you attend rock concerts. And your hearing will continue declining as you continue to do harm to your ears.
- You could have strained relationships: There’s something that happens when you have a difficult time understanding your friends and family: you stop talking to them. You don’t call to say hi, you don’t keep up with what’s going on with them, you withdraw. And that can damage some of those relationships, particularly if no one has any clue that the root cause is loss of hearing (and not some unspoken animosity).
- You could go through depression and cognitive decline: As your relationships fray and going out gets more challenging, you may start to notice signs of depression. You may also begin to go through some cognitive decline if your brain doesn’t receive the auditory stimulation that it’s used to, certain changes start to take place in your neural physiology. If your hearing loss isn’t addressed, it can lead to longterm cognitive worries.
Hearing Loss Shouldn’t be Neglected
Later on, clearly, bigger and more substantial issues can be caused by hearing loss. But the inverse is true: recognizing and dealing with your hearing loss can enhance your quality of life substantially. Your daily life is more full and your relationships improve when you start to hear better. And your general health will be improved by seeing a hearing specialist or at least downloading a noise monitoring app.
You absolutely shouldn’t ignore the health problem of hearing loss. A happier life starts when you find the correct treatment. Don’t wait until the proverbial toothache becomes too painful to ignore.