You want to be courteous when you are talking with friends. At work, you want to look involved, even enthralled with what your boss/peers/clients are talking about. With family, you may find it less difficult to just tune out the conversation and ask the person near you to fill in what you missed, just a little louder, please.
On zoom calls you lean in closer. You pay attention to body language and facial cues and listen for verbal inflections. You try to read people’s lips. And if that doesn’t work, you nod in understanding as if you heard everything.
Maybe you’re in denial. You’re straining to catch up because you missed most of what was said. Life at home and tasks at work have become unjustifiably difficult and you are feeling frustrated and isolated due to years of cumulative hearing loss.
According to some studies, situational factors like environmental acoustics, background noise, contending signals, and environmental awareness have a major influence on how we hear. These factors are always in play, but they can be far more extreme for people who are suffering from hearing loss.
Some hearing loss behaviors to look out for
There are some tell-tale habits that will alert you to whether you’re in denial about how your hearing impairment is affecting your social and professional life:
- Finding it harder to hear phone conversations
- Asking people to repeat themselves again and again… and again
- Unable to hear people talking behind you
- Asking others what was said after pretending to hear what they were saying
- Leaning in When people are talking and unconsciously cupping your ear with your hand
- Feeling like people are mumbling and not talking clearly
While it might feel like this snuck up on you suddenly, chances are your hearing loss didn’t happen overnight. Most people wait 7 years on average before acknowledging the problem and seeking help.
So if you’re noticing symptoms of hearing loss, you can bet that it’s been going on for some time undetected. Hearing loss is no joke so stop fooling yourself and schedule an appointment now.