5 Early Signs of Hearing Loss

Knowing the early signs of hearing loss could help you determine if you need to consult a professional. Several million people around the world are affected with some kind of hearing loss and hundreds of new people are diagnosed by professionals with this health problem every day.

According to the World Health Organization, in 2023, there are:

• 466 million persons in the world with disabling hearing loss (6.1% of the world's population)
• 432 million (93%) of these are adults (242 million males, 190 million females)
• 34 million (7%) of these are children

In the United States alone, around 50 million of people are experiencing some kind of hearing loss.

Hearing loss can begin at a much earlier age than expected. It is therefore important to monitor your hearing levels regularly. Free hearing screenings are one way to set basic baselines for hearing levels. However a more in depth hearing health assessment can often provide more detailed information about your hearing health, including auditory and cerebral processing.

While there is no treatment to reverse hearing loss, it is possible to mitigate its effect by trying to catch and treat the early signs. Here are 5 main early signs of hearing loss we believe are important to watch for.

Hearing loss sign #1: Ask people to repeat what they have just said

One of the very first signs of hearing loss to pay attention to is when someone frequently asks to repeat what has just been said. This is especially more concerning when this happens in a quiet environment, such as at home, without any particular background noise. Here there is not necessarily any interference that would prevent you from hearing someone correctly. Noisy environments can also be more challenging listening environments than they previously were. This includes locations such as:

• Restaurants
• Local coffee shops
• Shopping malls
• Sport events
• Concerts

If you have difficulties following a conversation with friends while having breakfast, lunch or dinner at your favorite eatery, you should determine if this is because you are in a legitimately noisy environment or, if the location is calmer, it is because your hearing is deteriorating.

Hearing loss sign #2: Set up high volume on electronic devices

If you found yourself (or someone else) consistently turning the volume up on your electronic devices, this could indicate the beginning stages of hearing loss. For example, while watching your favorite TV program, if you are steadily increasing the volume in an effort to understand better what is being said, you might be having trouble instead with what is being said clearly. Other devices to consider too are:

• the radio
• your smartphone
• your  tablet

Turning up the volume does not make the sound or speaker any clearer. It simply makes the sound louder.  Most often, early hearing loss is marked by a lack of understanding speech clearly, not that it’s not necessarily loud enough. The volume goes up in an effort to comprehend better, to “hear” better. But this is not achieved because louder does not equal clearer.

Try to find some clues that the volume may be going up too loud, such as someone telling you that the volume is too high.  It sounds simple, but if you know their hearing is quite good, this could help you measure yours against theirs.

Hearing loss sign #3: Family frustration

This one is hard to acknowledge, but when your family or loved one gets mad at you, it could be due to a mild to a moderate hearing impairment. Whether it's at a big family reunion, a smaller get-together, talking on the phone or just simply listening to someone speaking from another room, pay attention to signs of frustration.

Be aware that hearing loss can also affect people surrounding you. Hearing issues always disturb the communication between the people involved in a conversation. So next time you visit a relative or a friend, check out how others react when you engage in a discussion and they tell you something.

Hearing loss sign #4: Social withdrawal

There are activities that you loved doing in the past and now you have stopped. For instance, you don’t go to church with your family or get a coffee with your friends anymore. The joy of participating has ended because it has perhaps become just too difficult to hear well during your normal activity, and therefore you stop.  Unfortunately, hearing loss has this awful effect on your life and slowly forces you to have less and less interaction with people over time.

 While at a family gathering, you could also find yourself isolated from the rest of the party because you can’t understand what others are saying. This is a common behavior for someone with any degree of hearing loss.  It appears to the others as if you’re in your own little universe and therefore you miss all the fun conversations you previously had with your relatives and friends. 

Hearing loss sign #5: Accusing people of not speaking clearly or speaking too quickly

“It’s not that I have trouble hearing, it’s just that everyone seems to mumble!”  If this accusation sounds familiar, it may not be just a sign of cantankerous old age. It sounds easy to blame other people for speaking too quickly, for garbling their words so they all run together, but in reality it may be a sign of hearing loss.  You get frustrated, maybe even angry, that “no one seems to know how to speak correctly anymore,” well maybe it’s just that your hearing isn’t as strong as it once was and you are no longer able to capture a conversation at 100% without needing extra help.

When you are in a situation where you seem to be the only one in a group struggling to hear well, ask others around you if they understood what the speaker just said.  If they did hear the speaker easily, you need to consider getting your hearing tested.

Conclusion

Don’t underestimate these important signs. Hearing loss is an important health problem that can lead to more serious health issues such as depression or dementia. It can take several years to appear and sometimes it might be too late to do some proper adjustment.

It is important you get treated early enough if you are diagnosed with a hearing problem. We would recommend people aged 50 years or more to check their hearing performance every other year. But regardless of your age, if you feel that something is not right, don’t hesitate to do a free hearing test with a professional. 

Recommended reading

• Learn what you need to know before you arrive at your first appointment
• World Health Organization - Deafness and hearing loss
• Untreated Hearing Loss May Raise Risk of Other Health Issues

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