Have you ever attempted to disregard a toothache? They can be quite tough. Sooner or later, you’re unquestionably begging to go see a dentist. The same thing happens when your eyesight starts to lose focus. You’ll most likely call an ophthalmologist when you start to have trouble reading street signs. But the issue is, when your hearing starts to go you may not have such urgency.

This would probably be a mistake. There are appreciable health issues (especially mental health issues) that can develop as a consequence of untreated hearing loss. Unfortunately, it’s pretty hard to address your diminishing hearing if you aren’t aware of it. And that’s problem number two.

You May Have Hearing Loss if You Notice These Symptoms

We typically don’t appreciate our hearing. A loud performance? No big deal.. Blaring ear pods? You like to listen to your podcasts like this. But all of those choices, especially over time, is going to have a substantial affect on your overall hearing.

It can, unfortunately, be hard to detect these impacts. Hearing loss can sneak up on you incrementally, with symptoms that advance so gradually as to be effectively invisible. So you should take some time to learn some primary red flags (and to be certain you don’t neglect them):

• You usually have to crank up the volume on your devices
• Distorted or muffled sounding speech from individuals near you (co-workers, family, friends)
• You continually blow the speakers in your earpods because you have the volume up too high
• Your short term memory seems to suddenly fail now and then
• You feel an inexplicable sense of exhaustion or have excessive difficulty falling asleep at night
• You regularly have to ask people to repeat what they said
• It’s hard to follow conversations in noisy or crowded surroundings
• When you listen to everyday speech, you have a particularly difficult time hearing consonants

It’s fairly well known what these red flags and symptoms indicate. If your loss of hearing comes on particularly slowly, your brain will instantly begin to compensate for any hearing loss that occurs, making you somewhat unaware, at first, to your symptoms. That’s the reason why any of these warning signs should be taken seriously, which means you should make an appointment to see your hearing professional.

If You Neglect Your Hearing Loss, What’s Going Happen?

Some individuals are, certainly, stubborn. Or they just don’t like the concept of wearing a hearing aid. They assume that wearing hearing aids causes them to look old. But in reality, most modern hearing aids are virtually invisible (and it doesn’t hurt when you can hear and take part in conversations).

Still, it’s worth discussing what might take place if you neglect your hearing loss:

• You could cause your hearing to get worse: Without a hearing aid or increased hearing protection, you’ll keep cranking the volume on your television up. Or you won’t use earplugs when you go to rock concerts. And your hearing will keep diminishing as you continue doing damage to your ears.
• You could have strained relationships: There’s something that occurs when you have a difficult time comprehending your family and friends: you stop speaking with them. You stop calling to say hi, you don’t keep up with what’s going on with them, you disengage. And that can ruin some of those relationships, particularly if no one has any idea that the root cause is loss of hearing (and not some unexpressed animosity).
• You could suffer from cognitive decline and depression: You may begin to notice signs of depression as your relationships fizzle and going out gets more challenging. You may also start to experience some cognitive decline if your brain doesn’t receive the auditory activation that it’s used to, certain changes start to take place within your neural physiology. This can lead to long term cognitive difficulties if your hearing loss isn’t treated.

Hearing Loss Shouldn’t be Neglected

Down the road, clearly, bigger and more significant issues can be brought about by hearing loss. On the other hand, your quality of life can be significantly improved by recognizing and dealing with your hearing loss. Your every day life is more full and your relationships improve when you begin to hear better. And your general health will be enhanced by consulting a hearing specialist or at least downloading a noise monitoring app.

Hearing loss is definitely a health condition you shouldn’t neglect. The sooner you find the right treatment, the happier you’ll be. Deal with your hearing loss before it gets too severe to ignore.