You want to be courteous when you’re talking to friends. At work, you want to appear involved, even enthralled with what your supervisor/co-worker/customers are talking about. You often find yourself asking family to repeat themselves because it was easier to tune out parts of the conversation that you weren’t able to hear very well.
On zoom calls you move in closer. You pay attention to body language and facial cues and listen for verbal inflections. You read lips. And if that doesn’t work, you nod in understanding as if you heard everything.
Maybe your in denial. Your straining to catch up because you missed most of what was said. Life at home and projects at work have become unnecessarily difficult and you are feeling frustrated and cut off due to years of progressive hearing loss.
Some research shows that situational factors such as room acoustics, background noise, competing signals, and environmental awareness have a strong influence on the way a person hears. But for individuals who suffer from hearing loss these factors are made even more difficult.
There are some tell-tale habits that will raise your awareness of whether you’re in denial about how your hearing loss is impacting your social and professional life:
- Cupping your ear with your hand or leaning in close to the person talking without realizing it
- Missing what people are saying when on phone conversations
- Constantly having to ask people to repeat themselves
- Having a difficult time hearing what others behind you are saying
- Asking others what you missed after pretending to hear what someone was saying
- Feeling like people are mumbling and not talking clearly
Hearing loss probably didn’t happen overnight even though it could feel as if it did. The majority of people wait an average of 7 years before acknowledging the problem and seeking help.
So if you’re detecting symptoms of hearing loss, you can be sure that it’s been occurring for some time undetected. Hearing loss is no joke so stop kidding yourself and make an appointment right away.