In our everyday lives, we are highly dependent upon our senses. One of these crucial senses is hearing. To cope up with different environments, hearing helps us significantly. But due to various reasons, our hearing can substantially decrease significantly and lead us towards deafness. So taking a hearing test now and then may help greatly. In the following article, we’ll discuss why and when one needs to take a hearing test.
Why Take a Hearing Test
The researchers suggest taking a hearing test every 10 years till age 50 and then after a 3 years interval. When one faces hearing difficulties, they tend to suppress themselves. With facing problems to engage in conversations and several other social situations, they withdraw themselves from others. This may often lead them toward severe depression. The situation worsens when hearing loss is caused by some underlying condition like an infection in the ear. People with hearing impairments tend not to seek immediate help, and with time their ability to hear is badly destroyed. But when the problem is diagnosed earlier, it is possible to take effective steps to restore hearing or use devices to get back in the social situations within the earliest possible time. Some may not even know that they are having hearing problems. So, a regular hearing check-up can be a lifesaver in many cases.
Causes of Hearing Loss
Before discussing when to take a hearing test, first, take a look at why an adult person can face hearing problems. Some prominent causes of hearing loss are:
- Often being around loud noises at home or work.
- Use of power tools without ear protectors.
- Exposure to loud music, either live or recorded
- Building up of earwax
- Head trauma
- Ear infection
- A side effect of various drugs
- Genetic reasons
A person with hearing difficulties often avoids gathering even with closest family members. It can worsen the situation and cause other mental and health problems.
When to Take a Hearing Test
Detecting hearing difficulties can often be problematic. For our readers, we have prepared a set of questions. One can easily answer them with yes or no. If your answer is yes for more than 3 questions, you should consult your doctor or an audiologist as soon as possible. Let’s go through the questions.
- Do you feel anxious to meet new people because you struggle to understand their words?
- Do you often ask your family members or friends to repeat them as you can’t clearly hear them?
- Do you suffer from carrying out a conversation due to not hearing your audience’s response?
- Do you often have to raise the volume of your TV?
- Do you often struggle to hear conversations when you are in a crowded place?
- Do you feel frustrated when you can’t hear clearly and argue with others?
- Do you tend to avoid social gatherings due not to hear clearly enough?
What to Expect During the Test
The hearing test may take approximately thirty minutes. The whole process is painless.
You will be offered a set of earphones, and then various sounds will be played through them. The tones may vary from volume to pitch. These tones may be played into one ear at a time. Thus the audiologist can get an idea if you have a hearing problem and what kind of tones are difficult for you to hear.
During some tests, the audiologist may play you some speeches into one ear at a time. Then he’ll ask you to repeat them. You may be exposed to a noisy environment too. Some people may find it difficult to hear sounds when there’s background noise. So. almost all the situations are given practically a thorough check-up.
Results of The Test
The test results can mean different things according to your age. The result is measured according to the intensity of sound. For baseline understanding, Whispering in one’s ear consists of 30 decibels sound intensity and shouting consisting of 80 decibels. According to researchers,
- Difficulty hearing sounds from 26 to 40 decibels is mild hearing loss.
- Difficulty hearing sounds from 41 to 55 decibels is moderate hearing loss.
- Difficulty hearing sounds from 56 to 70 decibels is moderate to severe hearing loss.
- Difficulty hearing sounds from 71 to 90 decibels is severe hearing loss.
- Difficulty hearing sounds from 91 to 100 decibels is profound hearing loss.
According to the severity of hearing loss, your doctor may suggest an ENT specialist or an audiologist. Later, he’ll evaluate your case and prescribe you to take the necessary steps.
Treatments
In most cases, hearing loss may not be reversible. However, there are several exercises and devices that can help make up for your hearing difficulties. They will also assist in protecting the existing hearing condition.
Most of the hearing loss cases can be treated with hearing aids. These devices are installed in your ear. They receive the sound signals, amplify them and transform them into an electronic signal that your brain can understand. Hearing aid technology has come a long way with time. From large analog devices now, the hearing aid can come in invisible in the ear canal devices. Along with the size, the functionality of hearing aids has also increased. Now it’s possible to receive phone calls and the sound of your television directly to your device.
Learning to leap read can also help you cope up with hearing loss problems. Wearing earplugs when exposed to loud noise will help you highly to reserve the existing hearing.
In our daily life, we are almost always exposed to loud noises. And this can harm our hearing to varying degrees. However, seeking immediate diagnosis can help you go on with your life effectively. And you can avoid the unwanted underlying conditions before it claims its piece. Thus, you can ensure a healthy life for yourself.
