What is Hearing Loss?
Hearing loss is the inability to hear certain tones or frequencies. Hearing loss can happen to anyone of any age and ranges from mild to severe. When left untreated, hearing loss can affect your ability not only to hear, but to effectively communicate. This can negatively impact your relationships, social life, and overall health. To be proactive about your health, it’s important to recognize the signs of hearing loss and to schedule a hearing check if you suspect there may be anything wrong.
Hearing loss can be caused by many factors, including:
- Genetics
- Age
- Loud noise exposure
- Head or ear trauma
- Toxic medications
- Ear infection
Signs of Hearing Loss in Adults
If you are over the age of 60, it is recommended that you have your hearing checked on an annual basis, to catch any signs of hearing loss early. Because hearing loss often occurs gradually, over the course of a few years, it can be difficult to recognize the signs on your own. If a spouse or loved one has recommended you have your hearing checked, then you may have hearing loss.
Some common signs of hearing loss are:
- Sounds seem muffled or unclear
- It’s difficult to hear when there is background noise
- You listen to the TV or radio at a louder volume than everyone else
- You have to ask people to repeat themselves
- You feel tired after conversations
- You hear a ringing sound in your ears
Hearing and Cognition
Did you know your hearing is connected to your brain? We don’t hear with our ears; we hear when sound travels through the ear up to the auditory cortex of the brain. Healthy haring is a crucial part of having an active and healthy brain. When you can’t hear properly due to hearing loss, then your brain doesn’t receive the proper sound signals it needs to remain active. Over time, your brain will eventually forget these sounds and will have to work harder just to remember information. This can lead to fatigue, forgetfulness, and cognitive decline.
The most effective way to prevent cognitive decline is to manage your hearing loss at the first signs. Hearing aids are a great solution as they will provide your brain with the sound signals it needs to stay active and healthy. Hearing aids will also provide you with the confidence to rejoin the conversation and interact with your family, friends, and colleagues again.
Hearing Loss in Children
Children can experience hearing loss at any point in life, from birth to later in childhood. Your child’s hearing plays an important role in their social, emotional, and cognitive development. It’s important to be proactive about your child’s hearing health in order to provide them with the necessary resources for success. At Gold Country Hearing, our audiologists have years of experience helping children with their hearing health.
Learn how to recognize the signs of hearing loss in your child:
- They have limited, poor, or no speech
- They are inattentive
- They have difficulty learning
- They need to have the TV at a higher volume
- They fail to respond to conversation-level speech
- They answer inappropriately
- They don’t respond to their name
- They become easily frustrated when there is background noise
