You want to be courteous when you are talking to friends. You want your clients, co-workers, and supervisor to see that you’re totally engaged when you’re at work. With family, you might find it less difficult to simply tune out the conversation and ask the person next to you to fill in what you missed, just a little louder, please.
You have to move in a little closer when you’re on zoom calls. You watch for facial hints, listen for inflection, tune in to body language. You read lips. And if all else fails – you fake it.
Maybe your in denial. Your straining to keep up because you missed most of the conversation. Life at home and projects at work have become unjustifiably difficult and you are feeling aggravated and isolated due to years of progressive hearing loss.
Some research shows that situational factors such as environmental acoustics, background noise, competing signals, and situational awareness have a major influence on the way a person hears. But for people who suffer from hearing loss these factors are made even more challenging.
Here are a few behaviors to help you identify whether you are, in truth, fooling yourself into thinking hearing impairment isn’t impacting your professional and social interactions, or whether it’s simply the acoustics in their environment:
- Having a hard time hearing what others behind you are saying
- Thinking others aren’t talking clearly when all you can hear is mumbling
- Pretending to comprehend, only to later ask others what you missed
- Asking people to repeat themselves over and over again
- Leaning in When people are talking and unconsciously cupping your ear with your hand
- Missing what people are saying when on phone conversations
Hearing loss most likely didn’t happen overnight even though it could feel as if it did. The majority of people wait an average of 7 years before acknowledging the problem and seeking help.
So if you’re noticing symptoms of hearing loss, you can bet that it’s been occurring for some time undetected. So start by making an appointment now, and stop kidding yourself, hearing loss is no joke.