Millions of Americans are guilty of overlooking the need for regular hearing tests, which is one of the chief reasons that so many people are currently suffering from untreated hearing loss. While you might not be alone in ignoring those signs, that doesn’t alter the fact that anyone experiencing those symptoms should book an appointment with the audiologist as soon as possible.

Given that it’s difficult to tell whether you hear things differently to the people around you, keeping an eye out for the following issues is vital.

Struggling in social situations

Hearing loss isn’t only characterized by needing to turn the volume up on the TV or asking relatives to speak louder. In many cases, the first signs of hearing loss surface when you cannot keep up with conversations in public or crowded places.

Your brain may be failing to distinguish dialogue from background noise, or perhaps you are struggling to pick up specific tones. While failing to follow a one-off conversation could be attributed to many factors, regular incidents may be indicative of hearing loss.

The only way to be sure is to see your audiologist at the earliest stage.

Tinnitus & headaches

Tinnitus is a condition that will result in hearing internal sounds as external sounds. This can include whistling, clicking and buzzing. This is actually a sign of an underlying problem, of which there can be many. Most are linked to hearing loss.

Aside from tinnitus, headaches are another sign that you may have undetected hearing loss. The headaches could surface when using the telephone or other items where you rely on your ears. This is because your brain is working extra hard to compensate for the damage.

On a separate note, you may start to feel tired for similar reasons.

Not hearing certain pitches

Hearing loss doesn’t always affect the full spectrum in sounds. As such, your hearing problem may be most noticeable when you struggle to pick up high pitches. This can include doorbells, telephones, and emergency vehicle alarms.

Again, a one-off may be nothing to worry about and could be due to the surroundings. Still, it’s always better to be safe than sorry, which is why a hearing test is advised. Meanwhile, not knowing which direction the sounds came from is another associated symptom to check.

In severe cases, talking with children and women may be difficult too.

Ear infections

Ear infections and wax build-ups can occur for a whole host of reasons. Nevertheless, hearing health problems are a familiar source. In truth, seeing the audiologist is the best way to directly deal with those problems.

Even after the infection has cleared up, you may suffer hearing loss. Worse still, the fact that your hearing will seem better than when you had the infection makes it very easy to let this problem go unnoticed and untreated.

Letting the audiologist check you over is essential.

The final word

If you do notice any of the problems above, a hearing test is essential. Should the audiologist identify a problem, treating it now will restore a sense of normality.