According to the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, around 12 million people in the UK are affected by hearing loss.
While it may not feel like something you are experiencing, experts are urging people to check for the lesser known signs of hearing loss ahead of World Hearing Day on March 3rd.
According to Amanda Philpott, a hearing health expert and co-founder of eargym: “Beyond ageing and genetics, our hearing can deteriorate due to noise exposure, viral infections, impacted ear wax or trauma to the ear or head.
“Hearing loss can occur suddenly, but in most cases it develops gradually over time, and therefore it can often go undetected for long periods of time, particularly among younger people.”
This correlates with the World Health Organisation’s prediction back in 2019 that 1.1 billion young people are at risk of hearing loss.
Five unusual signs of hearing loss
Philpott has shared the unusual signs of hearing loss that you may be experiencing and hadn’t chalked up to hearing problems.
You struggle to understand people when you cannot see them
Without realising, a lot of people who are experiencing hearing loss will rely on their other senses to fill the gaps in speech in order to make sense of what others are saying. This can lead to a subconscious over-reliance on lip-reading which becomes more apparent if you struggle to talk to people with their mouths covered, or through the phone.
Additionally, consonant sounds can be hard to distinguish and as a result, you may often misunderstand what people are saying or think they’re mumbling when you cannot see them talking.
You get tired after social interactions
A subtle sign is frequently feeling fatigued after social interactions as a result of needing to concentrate in order to hear what is being said. If you are struggling to hear, your brain has to work a lot harder to interpret the information it receives from the inner ear. This can be exhausting, particularly over longer periods of time, and make it difficult for you to enjoy social settings.
You constantly find yourself turning up the TV
Although noise sensitivity varies person to person, if you often have to slide your music volume up to full or find yourself turning up the TV after others have had control, it’s worth getting your ears checked as it could be a sign that you’re having problems with your hearing.
You often find yourself asking people to repeat themselves
If you find yourself frequently stopping conversations to ask others to repeat what they were saying over and over, this is an indication that you could be experiencing hearing loss.
As a result, you may find yourself forgetting what they have told you which can be frustrating for all involved in the interaction.
You hear ringing, whooshing or whistling inside your ears
If you persistently hear ringing, whooshing or buzzing when there’s no external source for the sound, you’re likely experiencing Tinnitus. For many people, this can impact their mood, ability to sleep and concentrate. Tinnitus is extremely common among those experiencing hearing loss.
How we can prevent hearing loss
Julia Glenn, former Design Innovation Lead at UKRI’s Healthy Ageing Challenge Fund, shared her tips for preventing hearing loss. Glenn said: “Not only can untreated hearing loss lead to social isolation, it’s also closely linked to a number of serious mental and physical health conditions such as depression, dementia, and a loss of physical balance.”
“People with hearing loss tend to retire from work around 8 years earlier than their hearing colleagues, which can have significant emotional and financial impacts.”
Get your hearing checked regularly
Understanding your hearing health is the first step to improving and protecting it. This can be done by regularly having your hearing checked. The earlier hearing loss is diagnosed, the sooner it can be treated, protected, and prevented from deteriorating further.
Wear protection and avoid exposure to loud noises
Protecting your hearing is essential to ensuring it doesn’t worsen. Keep music, TV, and radio at a level where you can still understand those around you when they’re speaking to you from across the room. Take breaks every sixty minutes when you’re listening to media through headphones, and listen at 60% of your device’s maximum volume or less.
If you’re in a noisy workplace, at a gig or commuting, wear earplugs or ear defenders.
Glenn urges that hearing loss isn’t inevitable or even irreversible.
Although damage to structural parts of our ears can only be improved through physical interventions like hearing aids or cochlear implants, we can improve our ability to process sound and apply meaning to it through hearing training.
Hearing training exercises work with your brain to help you get more out of what you hear, improving your ability to listen, focus and process speech. Regular, daily training over a period of several weeks using an app like eargym can significantly improve your hearing capacity.
Hearing training can also help people with healthy hearing maintain and improve their hearing threshold.
To best protect the cells in your ears, you need to maintain healthy habits. This includes managing your blood pressure, keeping diabetes under control, exercising, practising stress reduction, and eating foods high in vitamins and minerals such as B12, potassium and magnesium. The healthier you are overall, the better your mental, physical and hearing health will be.
Protecting my hearing health? I’m all ears.