Did you know that it takes the average person about eight years to eventually go for a hearing test after their hearing loss begins? It’s not just stubbornness or a denial of reality. In fact, it’s mainly to do with the way hearing loss happens.

You see, hearing loss isn’t something that occurs overnight – not usually, anyway. Instead, it tends to build up over many years as damage to the ears accumulates. What begins as a minor problem quickly snowballs into something larger.   Booking an appointment at a hearing center should be the first thing that you do to avoid that snowball from gaining momentum. You need to think about how you can support your hearing and experts in a hearing center can help!

However, as people, we’re very good at adapting to our hearing loss. Our brains and bodies begin to make adjustments. And often, we get very good at filling in the gaps of what we’ve heard.

For that reason, it’s a good idea to watch out for the telltale signs of hearing loss. Usually, they can tell you whether you need to go for a checkup before you figure it out for yourself.

You’re Constantly Turning The Volume Up On The TV

Perhaps the most obvious sign of hearing loss is the need to continually turn up the volume on the TV as the months and years go by. Think back to the volume level that you had it on ten or twenty years ago and then compare it to today. Has it changed? If it has, it might suggest that you’re a little hard of hearing and need to go for a proper checkup with an audiologist.

You Can’t Hear People With High-Pitched Voices

People in the early stages of hearing loss also struggle to tune into people with high-pitched voices in conversation, particularly women and children. Again, if you find yourself saying “what” or “pardon” over and over in conversation, you may have an issue with your ears.

You Can’t Focus In Conversations

Another telltale sign of hearing loss is losing the ability to focus on a single person in a loud room of strangers. If you’re at a party, for instance, you may struggle to concentrate on what the person in front of you is saying, even though they can hear you fine.

You Can’t Hear The Birds Anymore

Usually, birds haven’t gone away from your garden. Instead, it’s problems with your ears, blocking out the sound.

If you can’t hear birds, the best solution is to get a hearing aid. These have special options that allow you to adjust the amplification at different pitches, usually described in the hearing aid guide. So, for instance, if you can’t hear birds tweeting at a certain frequency, you can increase the volume at that particular pitch.

You Feel Tired After Talking

Concentrating on what somebody is saying when you can’t hear very well can be an exhausting and draining experience. You’re having to concentrate on their mouth movements and the fragments of conversation you do hear all the time, instead of just relying on regular hearing. And that means that your brain is working overtime to piece everything together.

So there you have it: telltale signs that your hearing isn’t quite what it used to be. Do you have any of these symptoms?