HOW ADULTS CAN IDENTIFY WHETHER THEY HAVE A HEARING LOSS
Various factors can affect the hearing acuity in adults. The most common is ‘presbycusis’, which is hearing loss due to aging. Another factor is prolonged exposure to very loud noises.
The following is a checklist to identify whether you have a hearing loss or not. If you respond YES for most of the following, you need to seek professional help from an audiologist.
- Are you finding it difficult to communicate with people when talking in a low voice? YES NO
- During a conversation, do you feel that speech is not clear and so have difficulties understanding what is being said? YES NO
- Do you frequently ask people to repeat what they have just said to you or ask them to speak in a louder voice? YES NO
- Are you finding it difficult to understand a conversation in a noisy environment e.g. in a restaurant? YES NO
- Have you started to avoid situations where you think you are going to have difficulties to hear well? YES NO
- Do you have difficulties to understand telephone conversations? YES NO
- When watching TV, do you keep the volume louder than necessary to hear it well? YES NO
- Do you hear better from one ear than the other? YES NO
- Do you have ringing sounds in your ears? YES NO
- In the past, where you exposed to continuous loud noise? YES NO
