Self Diagnosis
Symptoms of Hearing Loss
Identifying a hearing loss in yourself or somone you know may be the first step toward improving the situation.
Often among the first sounds which "disappear" are those in the higher frequencies, that is sound that are high pitched such as women's and children's voices.
Some other symptoms may include:
- Difficulty hearing in public gatherings, concert halls, theatres, houses of worship - anywhere sound sources are far from the listener.
- Difficulty hearing TV and/or the telephone.
- Difficulty understanding conversation within a group of people or crowd. Individuals affected by hearing impairment may develop methods for coping with their hearing loss such as:
- Constantly asking others to repeat themselves.
- Turning their head to one side when listening to sounds.
- Turning up the volume levels on the TV, radio or stereo.
If hearing loss is suspected, an appointment should be made to have your hearing checked.
Testing and evaluation of you hearing may determine if a hearing aid can help.
Types of Hearing Loss
Work place noise, inherited medical conditions, childhood and adult illness all combine to produce different types of hearing loss in different people.
There are three types of hearing loss:
- Conductive hearing loss. Associated with problems with the bones, eardrum or membranes that carry sound from the external ear through the middle ear to the inner ear.
- Sensorineural hearing loss (also known as deafness). It is the condition when deterioration of the inner ear is present and may be caused by the natural aging process, or degeneration of the nerves leading from the inner ear to the brain.
- Mixed hearing loss. A hearing loss which contains elements of both conductive and sensorineural hearing loss.
Common problems such as excessive earwax or ear infections can be easily spotted and solutions can be advised.
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