I’m only in my 50s, and hearing challenges only affect the elderly, right?
The idea that hearing challenges only affect the elderly is only partially true. Yes, the majority of hearing loss cases are related to age deterioration, or presbycusis.
However, right behind presbycusis is noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), which affects individuals of all ages. Unfortunately, NIHL accelerates the development of presbycusis. In our noisy world, more and more individuals are experiencing permanent hearing loss at a younger age, including those in their 50s.
The worst part about living with hearing loss is how it threatens your independent lifestyle and quality of life as well as ushers in various other health concerns.
Regardless of age, everyone’s level of hearing loss is different; no two individuals experience the same symptoms or require the same care. The only true measure of your hearing challenges is a hearing test.
Fortunately, at South Sound Audiology we set no age limits on when you can have your hearing tested, and we develop the solutions to overcome your hearing challenges based on the information we gather from your hearing test.
How Will a Hearing Test Help Me?
Early signs of hearing loss are often subtle. They can include the need to ask others to repeat themselves a lot, especially in a noisy room; turning the volume up higher and higher on your TV; feeling fatigued after a conversation; not understanding what someone is saying on the phone; and incessant ringing or buzzing in your ears.
Even if you are not aware of these early warnings, those around you may have already noticed them and started advising you to have your hearing tested.
Your worst-case scenario involves addressing your hearing loss early, and your best-case scenario is learning you have an absence of hearing loss. In either case, a hearing test confirms your baseline numbers against which any future changes to your hearing can be measured. Most people call that a win-win.
Getting Your Hearing Tested in Your 50s Is a Major Positive!
Those who wait to have their hearing loss treated often develop additional negative mental and physical health issues like depression and anxiety, balance disorders, and cognitive decline, to name a few.
If you are taking a proactive approach to your health by monitoring your cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, and so on, then you are already doing the things that help ensure better overall health and quality of life.
It’s time to add hearing tests to that list. After the age of 50, you should be having your hearing tested every two years to adequately monitor changes and identify hearing challenges at their earliest stage, when addressing them is much easier.
How Do People Your Age Respond to Hearing Tests?
You may not believe it, but many people in their 50s who come to us for a hearing test are a bit nervous and skeptical. However, they often leave feeling more confident and in control of their hearing and their future.
Some with hearing challenges discover that they can reconnect with the people and activities they love most thanks to hearing care. Others discover that they are at a greater risk of experiencing hearing loss because of a variety of occupational and lifestyle factors, which they are able to modify to keep their risk at bay.
If you are experiencing the early signs of hearing loss, it can be difficult to ask for help—but realizing that you and your hearing need that extra care is a huge step in the right direction.
What Can I Expect During a Hearing Assessment?
At South Sound Audiology, we offer a more comprehensive Hearing Wellness assessment—a longer, more detailed version of typical hearing tests. We’ll take a look at how any hearing challenges you may be experiencing affect your overall health, as well as your ears, and how they could affect your personal and professional lives down the road.
With this in mind, we start your consultation with a conversation about your health and family history; hearing loss is often genetic, so it’s good to know if your family has a history of hearing loss. We’ll also ask about your occupation, activities and hobbies you enjoy, and any experiences you may have had when you felt your hearing was less than optimal.
After your initial interview, we’ll physically examine your ears to see if they have any blockage in them from earwax or other substances, as well as evaluate the structure of your ear canal and eardrum.
The next phase of a hearing assessment involves fitting you with a pair of headphones, through which we will transmit various tones at different frequencies and volumes. We’ll follow that up by transmitting speech through your headphones, and then speech in noise.
We typically do a bone conduction test as well—it’s not as scary as it might sound. It’s just using a different type of headphones to transmit tones into the bones behind your ears in order to evaluate the viability of your inner ear.
Once we’ve finished testing, your audiologist will show you your testing results and explain what they mean. If your tests do not indicate any hearing loss, we’ll save your results as a baseline test and give you some advice on lifestyle changes that can help you preserve your hearing for as long as possible.
In the event that your tests show hearing loss, we’ll take the time to present the various treatment options available and begin to guide you through the process of achieving better hearing.
Come to South Sound for a Hearing Assessment
Even if you don’t think you have hearing challenges, a hearing assessment every two years after you reach the age of 50 is a positive move toward safeguarding your future—your social life, work life, and family life.
Like monitoring your cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar, hearing tests are a way to catch challenges early on so you can continue to listen to all that life has to offer without interruption.
Schedule a hearing assessment at South Sound Audiology today or give us a call at (360) 464-9780 for more information.
