In conversation with friends, you like to be courteous. You want your clients, co-workers, and manager to recognize that you’re completely involved when you’re at work. With family, you might find it less difficult to just tune out the conversation and ask the person near you to fill in what you missed, just a bit louder, please.
You have to lean in a little closer when you’re on zoom calls. You watch for facial cues, listen for inflection, and pay close attention to body language. You attempt to read people’s lips. And if all else fails – you fake it.
Maybe you’re in denial. You missed lots of what was said, and you’re straining to keep up. Life at home and projects at work have become unjustifiably overwhelming and you are feeling aggravated and isolated due to years of progressive hearing loss.
The ability for a person to hear is influenced by situational variables including background noise, contending signals, room acoustics, and how comfortable they are with their environment, according to research. These factors are always in play, but they can be a lot worse for people who are suffering from hearing loss.
Some hearing loss behaviors to look out for
There are some revealing behaviors that will alert you to whether you’re in denial about how your hearing impairment is impacting your social and professional life:
- Feeling like people are mumbling and not speaking clearly
- Asking others what was said after pretending you heard what they were saying
- Having a hard time hearing what others behind you are saying
- Finding it more difficult to hear phone conversations
- Repeatedly having to ask people to repeat what they said
- Leaning in during conversations and unintentionally cupping your hand over your ear
Hearing loss probably didn’t happen overnight even though it may feel as if it did. The majority of people wait 7 years on average before accepting the issue and seeking help.
This means that if your hearing loss is an issue now, it has most likely been going unaddressed and untreated for some time. Start by scheduling an appointment right away, and stop kidding yourself, hearing loss is no joke.
