Hearing loss is so common, in fact, that it should be considered as normal as needing reading glasses when we reach the age of about 50.
With odds like these, it's highly likely you know several people with a hearing loss. The easy ones to spot are the people who are visibly struggling to follow conversation and seem in a world of their own, but that's when their hearing loss has progressed to a more extreme level. More subtle are the hearing losses that affect quality of life...Always the Last to Know
Ironically, if you have a hearing loss you'll usually be the last person to notice! The reason for this is very obvious: if you don't hear something, how do you know you didn't hear it? You've only got someone else's word for it, and why should you believe them?! They may have been mumbling! And if they complain you have the TV too loud, it's not your problem!
(Of course there are probably lots of other people around you who have noticed, but they're too polite (or afraid?!) to tell you!)
But this is the stage when it begins affect your quality of life, not to mention the quality of life of those around you. We'll look at this in more detail later.
How to know for certain
So what do you do when you suspect someone has a hearing loss, but you're too afraid to tell them (or you know they won't believe you)? And how can you stop someone telling you that you have a hearing loss?
You find out for certain with a hearing assessment!
A hearing assessment is the only practical way to find out whether your hearing is normal or not. Your hearing is measured then compared to the benchmark of 'normal hearing' to ensure you're picking up all the components of speech.
How to persuade someone to have their hearing checked
If you're trying to persuade someone else to have a hearing assessment, the best approach is to have one yourself at the same time, so book yourselves both in. After all, if we all had regular hearing assessments, we would catch problems a lot earlier and a hearing check would be as normal as having our eyes tested.