You want to be courteous when you are talking to friends. You want your customers, co-workers, and manager to recognize that you’re fully involved when you’re at work. You often find yourself asking family to repeat themselves because it was less difficult to tune out parts of the conversation that you couldn’t hear very well.
On zoom calls you move in closer. You pay attention to body language and facial clues and listen for verbal inflections. You attempt to read people’s lips. And if none of that works, you nod in understanding as if you heard everything.
Maybe you’re in denial. You missed lots of what was said, and you’re straining to keep up. You might not recognize it, but years of cumulative hearing loss can have you feeling isolated and frustrated, making tasks at work and life at home unnecessarily difficult.
Some research shows that situational factors including environmental acoustics, background noise, competing signals, and situational awareness have a major influence on how a person hears. But for individuals who suffer from hearing loss, these factors are made even more challenging.
Some hearing loss behaviors to watch out for
There are certain revealing habits that will alert you to whether you’re in denial about how your hearing impairment is affecting your professional life:
- Asking people to repeat themselves again and again… and again
- Feeling like people are mumbling and not speaking clearly
- Finding it harder to hear over the phone
- Asking others what was said after pretending to hear what they were saying
- Having a hard time hearing what people behind you are saying
- Leaning in during conversations and unconsciously cupping your ear with your hand
Hearing loss most likely didn’t take place overnight even though it could feel as if it did. Acknowledging and seeking out help for hearing loss is something that takes most individuals at least 7 years.
That means that if your hearing loss is a problem now, it has most likely been going unaddressed and neglected for some time. Hearing loss is no joke so stop fooling yourself and schedule an appointment right away.