Firstly, changes in hearing usually creep up on you gradually.
Imagine you woke up this morning and all your hearing had gone. You would know right away that today was different to yesterday, because you would have something very obvious to compare. But when a hearing loss is gradual, it makes changes to your life that are so subtle and so gradual that you probably wouldn't notice them unless you looked back over a long period of time.
Secondly, you can usually still hear!
After all, you haven't gone "deaf" – you just can't hear as well as you used to be able to.
You can still hear people speaking, but:
- People seem to mumble a lot more these days (…someone else's problem!)
- The quality of sound on the TV or at the cinema is much poorer than it used to be (…someone else's problem!)
Thirdly, everything sounds 'normal' to you!
If you turn up the TV louder so you can hear it, you turn it up to a level that is comfortable for you. So it sounds normal to you...
It's just everyone else that complains that it's too loud! The people watching television with you will notice that you need it a lot louder than you used to, but you won't notice… unless they tell you. And then, why should you believe them?
Fourthly: you are blissfully unaware of everything you haven't heard!
Imagine someone has had to say something to you two or three times before you've acknowledge them. You only hear the last time, and as far you know that's the only time they've spoken to you. So the person speaking to you knows you didn't hear them. But you don't…
Until eventually you start compensating…
Conversations become more difficult, so you find yourself avoiding situations and places where you have to take part. Or you try to do all the talking, so you don't have to strain to listen or embarrass yourself by missing the punchline or saying something out of place because you misheard what they said.
If you're lucky, you'll have family or friends that will tell you (hopefully nicely!) the things you struggle to hear. They'll reach a point where they're fed up of having the TV up so loud and having to repeating themselves.
When a hearing loss gets worse…
If you don't get a hearing loss treated quickly enough, you end up changing your life to match your reduced hearing. But because it often creeps up on you gradually, you may not notice the changes to your quality of life.
Some of the more serious issues of untreated hearing loss include:
- Avoidance and Isolation – you stop going where you used to go and try to avoid conversation either because you can’t follow it or because you’re afraid of embarrassing yourself by mishearing what’s said. You find noisy environments such as restaurants very frustrating.
- Personality Change – your frustration could lead to feelings of insecurity, depression and even aggression.
- Self-Doubt – you start to turn inward and feel unappreciated or misunderstood.
- Paranoia – because you're missing things, or mishearing things, you begin to suspect people are talking about you or deliberately excluding you.
- Lack of Stimulus – you find it more difficult to keep your mind intellectually or creatively stimulated because your brain can’t receive as much information through the ears.
And once this downward spiral begins, it's hard to break out of.
More and more research points to mental health being affected by untreated hearing loss – so don't make the mistake of letting pride or complacency get in the way of having your hearing checked out and, if necessary, treated. Otherwise you may find that you stop being the 'real you'.
Summary
It's never too early to do something about a hearing loss, especially when it is starting to affect your quality of life. But better late than never. The earlier on a hearing loss can be identified, the sooner appropriate action can be taken which will provide far more benefit in the long run.
In the next section you'll find a checklist to help you determine whether you or someone you know has a hearing loss.