Early Signs of Deafness that You will not Easily Notice

Deafness or hearing loss is an extremely treacherous condition. Especially when our focus is mainly on thriving through life, it will be really difficult to notice that our body is already warning us that something is wrong. A great example would be factory workers who are prone to loud noises in their everyday work. Most of them do not even take the time to employ the help of earplugs. At an early age, symptoms may not show but at some point, it will eventually take its toll on the cochlea (a small organ inside the ear that helps make hearing possible).

The worst part is that life can really get so demanding that even as we notice the signs, we try to delay treatment because taking the day off to consult with the experts, will steal our valuable time that would convert into income and give us our daily bread. By the words of the great Dalai Lama “Man is funny, he sacrifices health to earn money, then spends all his money to restore health”.

Do not be caught up in this same ironic paradigm. Be self-aware and get treatment at the first signs of deafness or hearing loss. Protect your ability to hear to preclude its negative effects to our holistic health. Conventional treatments such as hearing aids or implants may be administered or hearing loss may be ruled out. Just so you know, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. That said, here are the early signs that you should precaution yourself from:

6 Very Subtle Signs of Deafness and Hearing Loss

1. Muffled High Pitch Sounds

The part of the ear that commonly gets damaged first is the tiny hair cells inside our cochlea. Their main function is to convert the sound vibrations into electric signals. These signals will then be conveyed by the auditory nerve towards our brain for processing — hence the hearing process. The moment they malfunction, we’ll start to notice tiny variations in our quality of hearing. Especially when listening to high pitched sounds such as the voices of little children and women. Or the beeping mechanism in our microwaves or any electronic equipment that uses a beeping sound to alert us. Even the sound of crickets at sunset will be hard to hear as well. Instead of hearing these sounds, we may hear muffled noises.

2. Can Barely Hear Your Mate Talking to you in a Public Place

Background noises in a public place generally have a low pitch. Somehow, you may even wonder –”why do you hear the background noise better than your mate talking right in front of you?” The answer is simple, you can’t hear some letters in a speech such as “f” and “s”. These letters have a high pitch. And since it’s the high-pitched hearing capability that first gets damaged, this is one crucial sign that you are having a problem in your auditory system and that you should see an expert as soon as you can.

3. Feeling Drained and Dead Tired after Social Events

When there’s so much input that the brain can’t process, such as the noises that you can’t hear, it tries to fill the gap and tries to find alternative ways to process these sounds. Yup! That’s how ingenious the brain is and our overall physiology for that matter. But on the flip side of the coin, this effort takes heaps of focus. So, in social events where people are apparently going to do lots of talking, plus the music, and every little ruckus that will unfold throughout, your brain will have to work overtime to catch-up. This results in fatigue and that’s why you’ll feel tired after social events. If this same subtle sign of deafness proves true to you, then you should start seeing a specialist.

4. Involuntary Lip Reading

As aforementioned, the brain will try to remedy deafness by finding an alternative way to hear. At some point, you will notice yourself reading your mate’s lip just to understand what the other person is saying. And you’ll get better at it. As awesome as this newly learned skill is, it’s actually one of the signs of impaired hearing.

5. Clogged Ears

Multiple reports from patients with minor levels of deafness have been recorded. Many of them claim that they feel a sensation of clogging in their ears. In a first impression, you may think that this is simply a wax build up inside your ears. But its always better to be sure.

6. You Prefer to Keep the TV’s Volume Loud

Apparently, deafness will compel you to increase the volumes in your Television sets. Or, it could be your mobile devices, computers, or any other gadgets which output appeals to your sense of hearing. Once you notice this sign, it’s needless to say that there is really a problem with your hearing.

It is crucial to beware of the signs so we can do proper immediate actions as soon as we see them coming. So, take advantage of the power of the internet to educate yourselves, or talk to the experts. Sacrificing your health today will cause you greater costs in the future.

Are you looking for great insights like this?

Then check out more information all through the website, or get in touch with our friendly staff today. We will give you tips and facts on how hearing works and how can you get treatment for any hearing problems.

Also, do you know what happens when hearing aids don’t work for you anymore? Check out our article: Everything you need to know about Hearing Implants.