Signs

Hearing loss, regardless of degree, can interfere with every aspect of your daily life. But hearing loss usually occurs gradually, so the signs can be difficult to recognize. Some of the more common signs of hearing loss include:

• Feeling like everyone around you is mumbling or speaking more softly than they used to

• Frequently asking people to repeat themselves

• Having difficulty following a conversation in a group or in a crowded place, like a restaurant

• Turning up the volume on your TV, car radio, or computer

• Feeling tired or irritable after a long conversation

Hearing gives us more information than just words. It also helps us locate things. If you leave a cordless phone lying somewhere, the sound of its ring helps you find it. Likewise, if you’re outside walking, hearing well from both ears alerts you to where a car is coming from and keeps you safe. With impaired hearing, you may have difficulty locating the source of important sounds.

Often, someone close to you spots signs of hearing loss before you do. They may often feel frustrated when trying to communicate with you. Their frustration can lead to comments that make you feel embarrassed, teased, and even ridiculed. If you have a family member or friend who you spend a lot of time with, see what they’ve noticed. Have you asked them to repeat things, or turned up the volume louder than they like?

At Ken-Ton Hearing, our doctors of audiology are highly trained to recognize even the most subtle signs of hearing loss, and our diagnostic equipment is state-of-the-art. If you want to learn more about your hearing, call us at 716-874-1609 to schedule a thorough evaluation with one of our Doctors of Audiology to talk about your hearing loss and you.

Causes

Millions of people experience hearing loss, and it comes in many different types. It can be temporary or permanent, mild or severe. Some people are born with impaired hearing, while others develop it from noisy environments or ear disease.

There are two main types of hearing loss:

CONDUCTIVE HEARING LOSS involves the outer and/or middle ear. Sounds aren’t getting through the ear canal properly and into to the inner ear.

Common symptoms include muffled or faint sounds, earache or discharge, and a pressure or fullness in the ear.

Conductive hearing loss is usually caused by ear infection, excessive wax buildup, a foreign object, fluid in the middle ear, damage to the bones of the middle ear, or a ruptured eardrum.

SENSORINEURAL HEARING LOSS is a condition of the inner ear. Sound waves are traveling into the ear normally, but the inner ear can’t pick up vibrations or send them to the brain.

Common symptoms include distorted or muffled sounds, difficulty hearing high pitches, ringing or buzzing in your ears, and difficulty understanding speech in background noise.

Sensorineural hearing loss is usually caused by aging, viral infections, disease, excessive noise, head injuries, certain drugs, or birth defects.

Other kinds of hearing loss involve a combination of these two types, or an impairment of the neural pathway that carries the message to the hearing part of your brain. However, most of the millions of people who experience hearing loss fall into the sensorineural category, where aging or the environment has damaged the inner ear’s hair cells and auditory nerve. And the vast majority of all hearing losses can be improved.