Five Signs Your Hearing Needs a Check – Beauty That Walks

Hearing loss often occurs gradually, which makes it easy to miss the early warning signs. Just like written eye exams or dental cleanings, regular hearing checks are essential to maintaining your long-term health. In fact, many people ignore subtle symptoms until their hearing has already declined significantly.

If you’ve noticed any of the signs listed below, it may be time to schedule a hearing test and, in some cases, explore options like tinnitus treatment or hearing aids. Let’s take a look at five key signs that your hearing may need professional attention.

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1. You’re hearing, ringing, or buzzing in your ears. One of the most common symptoms of hearing issues is tinnitus, A persistent ringing, buzzing, hissing, or clicking sound in the ears that is not caused by an external source. While tinnitus can be temporary, chronic tinnitus is often a sign of underlying hearing damage. There are several tinnitus treatment options available and there is stuff you can do with your audiologist to help you to reduce the emotional stress that it can cause too. If you’ve been experiencing this phantom noise, get your hearing evaluated.
2. You find conversations hard to follow. If you find yourself asking your friends to repeat themselves and you’re finding group conversations becoming frustrating, you might need to think about whether your hearing is the problem rather than the speaker. This difficulty usually begins with high-frequency hearing loss, which can make it hard to hear consonants or distinguish speech from background noise. A hearing check can confirm what’s going on and help you to take the next steps.
3. The TV or music is always too quiet for everyone else. If your family or roommates are constantly asking you to turn the volume down, it could be a sign that you’re hearing is starting to decline. Gradually increasing the volume on devices without realizing it is one of the earliest red flags of hearing issues. What feels normal to you might be significantly louder than it should be, and this is often something that others notice first.
4. You avoid social events. Social isolation is not uncommon for those with hearing loss. Untreated hearing issues can make social interactions exhausting, and when you’re constantly straining to hear, your brain has to work harder to process sound. This leads to mental fatigue. In time, this can cause people to avoid gatherings altogether, leading to isolation that we mentioned already.
5. You’ve had frequent ear infections. Even if you’re not noticing major hearing problems just yet, a history of loud noise exposure or recurrent ear infections puts you at a high risk for hearing loss. Musicians, construction workers, frequent concert goers, and even people who use earbuds at high volume are all more likely to develop problems down the line. Being proactive with hearing checks can catch the damage early and could help you to explore options.

This is more common than most people think, and early signs often go unnoticed. If you’re experiencing any signs of the issues above, don’t ignore them.