How do I know if I have a hearing loss?

Hearing loss occurs to most people as they age. Hearing loss can be due to aging, exposure to loud noise, medications, infections, head or ear trauma, congenital or hereditary factors, disease processes and many other causes.

You may have hearing loss if...
•You hear people speaking but you have to strain to understand their words.
•You frequently ask people to repeat what they said.
•You don’t laugh at jokes because you miss too much of the story or the punch line.
•You frequently complain that people mumble.
•You need to ask others about the details of a meeting you just attended.
•You play the TV or radio louder than your friends, spouse and relatives.
•You cannot hear the doorbell or the telephone.
•You find that when people look directly at you while they speak to you, it makes it easier to understand.

What do I do now??

If you have any of these symptoms, you should see an audiologist to get an "audiometric evaluation." An audiometric evaluation is the term used to describe a diagnostic hearing test, performed by a licensed audiologist. An audiometric evaluation allows the audiologist to determine the type and degree of your hearing loss, and it tells the audiologist how well or how poorly you understand speech. After all, speech is the single most important sound we listen to and the ability to understand speech is extremely important. Your ability to hear and understand speech in quiet and in noisy situations are important indicators, and they can be accurately tested by your audiologist.
The evaluation also includes a thorough case history (interview) as well as visual inspection of the ear canal and eardrum. The results of the evaluation are also useful to the ear, nose and throat doctor, in the event the audiologist concludes your hearing problem may be treated with medical or surgical alternatives.


What are the common types of hearing loss?

The external and the middle ear conduct sound. When there is a problem in the external or middle ear, a conductive hearing impairment occurs. When the problem is in the inner ear, a sensory neural loss is the result. Difficulty in both the middle and inner ear results in a mixed hearing impairment (conductive and sensory neural impairment).