Hearing is one of the most important senses for any living being. Having the ability to hear helps us to survive any danger and live a more convenient life. When your hearing gets compromised it can become extremely challenging over the course of time and can restrict you from living a better life.
The hearing functions in three spectrums, the outer ear, middle ear, and the inner ear. The sound waves cause vibrations to the eardrum while passing through the outer ear. The vibrations are amplified by the middle ear and its small bones as it travels to the inner ear. Then these vibrations pass to a fluid in the inner ear.
Picking up if you are on your way to losing your hearing or have already lost hearing can be understood by a few signs, these are:
1. You start concentrating more on people’s movement of lips than their speech
When you can’t hear properly your brain automatically shifts the focus to concentrate on picking up what the person is communicating by reading their lips. It can be an involuntary action that you may not realise until you think if you are doing it.
While it is natural to look at someone’s lips while they talk it can be very obvious after a certain point that you are paying more attention to reading the lips than listening to them.
2. You hear low-pitched sounds better than high-pitch
The background sounds are usually low-pitched sounds, like classrooms, malls, etc. The speeches of conversations are high-pitched sounds, and these are usually more important than the background sounds. To have a sound conversation one must be able to hear properly what the person is speaking and it should not be hindered by any background noise. While avoiding the background sound at all times can not be possible, our brain is programmed in such a way it can give more importance to the person speaking. But as you age, this can change and your brain will pick up the background sound much better than the high tones.
3. Your brain is exhausted at the end of the day
Your brain is constantly working making you function the way you can. It is a highly capable organ but should not be pushed to a greater extent than it loses its ability to function. When you can not hear speech properly your brain spends significant energy and focus on articulating what the conversation is by filling the gaps your ear failed to complete.
This is something that can tire out the brain which eventually makes you feel exhausted by the end of the day because you spend all your energy on figuring out what people are talking about. To reduce the strain doctors prescribe hearing aids to be installed in your ears that can help reduce the strain and save you from putting all your focus on deciphering conversations.
4. Ears feel full and irritate you
Do you feel like your ears are dirty and filled with wax even after cleaning them over and over again? When you start to lose your hearing your ears feels like it is clogged with wax. Earbuds come out clean after going inside your ears yet you feel like there is something inside your ears making you feel cloudy inside the ears.
When you visit an ENT they can check if your ears have wax or any kind of fluids that is clogging your ears. If there is nothing that is clogging then it is best to take a hearing test to see if you have not lost your hearing ability.
5. Struggles to keep up with music and TV programs
Music producers and tv producers mix up the high pitch and low pitch in the audio to create an effect for the audience. For someone struggling with hearing loss, it can be difficult to catch up with this and also understand all the sounds that are being presented. For someone to enjoy the content to its full effect they should be able to hear all the sounds without much trouble. But if you are someone who is losing your hearing ability or already lost it you will be struggling to articulate what is being presented.
There are other signs as well like the dominance of muffled sounds, the need for repetition of dialogues, avoiding conversations, difficulty having phone calls, ringing sound in ears, and being sensitive to certain kinds of sounds.
Here are a few things to do for hearing loss:
- It is ideal not to wait for signs of hearing loss to see a doctor, rather consult with a doctor if you are exposed to loud noises.
- Suspected injuries to the ear must be treated or consulted for hearing loss.
- If you have a child then get their hearing checked as this may go unnoticed.
- Use ear muffles when you are exposed to high-intensity sounds.
- Avoid using poor quality audio devices which can produce uncomfortable noises disturbing the eardrums.
- Regular hearing checkups to ensure your hearing is intact.
Hearing loss not only affects your hearing ability but also your daily life in a lot of ways. People lose their confidence in communication and reside to being silent. If someone is starting to lose their hearing they also start to lose their cognitive balance and such.
Hearing loss is mainly due to ageing and chronic exposure to loud noises for a long duration. As you age it can weaken your ears and would need medical support to have a quality hearing. If you find any of the signs in your hearing then it is high time you visit an ENT and get your ear checked.
