Whether you lean closer to the person you are talking to or nod in agreement without fully understanding what’s being said, hearing loss can make it challenging to lead a fulfilling life. The inability to fully immerse yourself in conversations may make you want to isolate yourself by limiting social interactions and choosing to text people instead of calling or meeting up with them. While it will work initially, over time, managing relationships while being unable to express yourself fully can become challenging, and that’s why it’s so important to be aware of the signs of hearing loss.
Subtle Signs of Hearing Loss
Look out for these subtle signs of hearing loss so you can act on time.
Following a Conversation in a Noisy Environment Is Becoming Difficult
The most subtle sign that you may need a hearing test is when you often find it nearly impossible to understand what the other person is saying in a noisy environment. It becomes difficult for you to filter their voice and make out the words, especially with letters like “f” and “s”. You may pretend to hear what the other person is saying without truly understanding anything.
Such hearing difficulties can cause severe miscommunication and misunderstandings in personal and professional relationships, as you won’t clearly understand what’s expected of you. Similarly, if you are on the phone and, despite increasing the volume or asking the person on the other end to speak clearly, it has no effect; it can be a sign of hearing loss.
You Feel Overly Exhausted After Attending Social Events
When you are unable to hear what people are saying, your brain has to work extra hard to fill in the gaps and understand the context of the conversation on its own. Such experiences are mentally exhausting and may leave you not wanting to be around people.
The intensity of exhaustion may increase if more than one person is speaking and your brain has to figure out large amounts of information at once. Being present on such occasions can lead to headaches and emotional exhaustion. In some cases, the person may even experience mood swings due to the mental stress one has to go through to understand the topic of a conversation.
You’re Often Looking at People’s Lips Instead of Making Eye Contact
When one sense in our bodies doesn’t seem to work correctly, the brain uses other parts (or senses) to cover for the shortcoming. In case of hearing loss, the brain tries to read the lips to understand what is being said, including words, phrases and even sentences. Since your complete focus will be on reading the lips to understand what they are saying, there will hardly be any time to make eye contact.
Letters like ‘o’, ‘t’, ‘c’, ‘m’ and ‘f’ are easy to understand; other complex letters like ‘w’, ‘m’ and ‘x’ can be a bit challenging to figure out. As eye contact during conversations indicates interest and respect, when you are not actively doing it, the person may assume you are not interested or feel overwhelmed with the conversation.
Due to this, it is highly likely that you may not be able to establish a strong presence when in a professional setting.
Sounds Seem To Be Muffling, Even at High Volumes
Do you hear women or children talk, and they sound like they are talking underwater? Hearing loss can make it challenging to determine what a person is saying, even if they are loud.
The words may sound like they are being mixed together, and each word will seem to be blending into another, making it challenging to determine if someone said, ‘Let’s get coffee’ or ‘Let’s get lottery’.
The muffling of sounds may start small, missing a word here and there, until it becomes incomprehensible. This phenomenon is commonly observed when a person with hearing problems is talking to women or children, as their voices are in higher pitches.
Your TV Volume Is High, and Yet You’re Unable To Hear Clearly
TV shows and movies combine dialogue, sound effects, and music to entertain viewers. However, for someone with hearing difficulties, the mix of these elements can make it challenging to distinguish dialogue from background effects.
As a result, they will resort to turning the volume as high as possible to understand what’s actually happening. While they are struggling to make sense of things, the high volume can make it challenging for others around them to go about their lives without constantly getting distracted.
Besides, the loud noise can also draw complaints from the neighbours, making the person with hearing problems feel embarrassed and eventually avoid watching the TV altogether.
Be Aware of the Signs of Hearing Loss
Hearing loss can significantly impact a person’s quality of life. From making it difficult to understand what your loved ones are saying clearly to being able to make informed life decisions, the impact can leave a person feeling unhappy with their professional and personal lives. If you or someone you love shows these subtle signs, getting a hearing test can help find a practical solution to improve their quality of life.
