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According to the World Health Organization, more than 5% of the world’s population (466 million people) have disabling hearing loss, including 34 million children and 432 million adults. People of all ages are susceptible to hearing loss. Some of the causes include aging, excessive earwax, and exposure to loud noises, among others.

What’s more, most people with hearing loss usually experience changes in their hearing ability as they grow older. Unfortunately, these changes often occur gradually, and the people affected are unaware of the signs until it is too late. Paying attention to these signs and symptoms of hearing loss are crucial to enable you know how to protect yourself against a potential hearing loss. Continue reading to learn more about warning signs and symptoms of hearing loss.

Some Voices Become Muffled and Unclear

Your cochlea is the inner-ear organ that facilitates your hearing. When it wears out due to age, the cells that identify high-pitched sounds are usually the first to stop functioning. Due to this, you will find it difficult to understand people with high-pitched voices, such as children and women. This occurrence is also responsible for the inability to hear crickets chirp, microwave beeps, and more.

Follow Conversations In Noisy Places

Noise pollution is dangerous to our health. The sounds in the background noise of malls and restaurants are generally low-pitched. In contrast, some letters in speeches, especially consonants like “f” and “s,” are high-pitched. If you can’t hear high-pitched sounds properly, then you won’t be able to follow the speeches of those around you. However, you’ll still be able to listen to the background noises. If this happens to you, it is a warning sign of hearing loss.

Exhaustion After Social Events

When you can’t hear all the sounds in a speech, your brain will work harder to fill the gaps you missed. It does this so that you make sense of the little you’ve heard. Usually, this takes a considerable amount of focus, especially when two or more people are speaking simultaneously. The effort you exert to fill the gaps and make sense of the speech usually causes tiredness at the end of these events. Watch out for this hearing loss sign.

Watch People’s Lips

As mentioned earlier, the brain works harder when a certain sense doesn’t function as it should be functioning. When you find yourself looking at someone’s lips when they say “f” or “p,” you should start paying attention to your hearing ability.

Clogged Ears

This often occurs when there’s an excess of wax or fluid in your ears. According to Acoustic Hearing Clinics, when you feel your ears are clogged, visit a doctor or audiologist. If they say your ears look clear, you may want to get yourself a hearing test. Hearing loss caused by aging causes sounds to seem dull or muffled, which is quite similar to how clogged ears feel.

Endnote

Signs and symptoms of hearing loss can range from muffled and unclear voices to clogged ears, exhaustion after social events, concentration or balance issues, and more. With these signs, you should identify when you’re in danger of losing your sense of balance. Follow this with regular visits to your doctor or audiologist to check out the state of your ears. Finally, consider getting regular hearing tests in a bid to avoid hearing loss.