It’s never an easy realization when you think you might be losing your hearing. Hearing loss can be subtle, or it can progress quickly. Often, we don’t notice we’re losing our hearing until a friend or loved one points it out.
In people over 65, hearing loss is common. And once we reach age 75, nearly 50% of us will experience some kind of hearing loss. However, hearing loss can affect anyone regardless of their age.
Today, let’s explore 21 signs you or a loved one may be losing your hearing.
What are signs I'm losing my hearing?
1. You ask others to repeat themselves.
Do you catch yourself saying, “What?” all the time? If you’re frequently not understanding a sentence the first time you hear it, you may be experiencing early hearing loss.
2. You turn up the volume more than you used to.
Blasting the volume on the TV or your phone isn’t just a sign of potential hearing loss. It can also be a contributor to future hearing problems. Make sure to listen to content at reasonable volumes. Many modern smartphones have built-in features to tell you if you’re playing your music at too high a volume. If you find yourself getting this alert a lot, it may be a good time to see an audiologist.
3. You have trouble understanding phone calls.
People on the other end of the phone sound muffled or garbled. You might find yourself using speakerphone or headphones more instead of holding your phone to your ear.
4. You struggle to understand conversations in loud environments.
When was the last time you got drinks in a crowded restaurant or chatted with coworkers at a work event? One of the most common hearing loss experiences is having difficulty with conversations in loud or crowded spaces.
5. You’ve started avoiding social situations.
Some people with hearing loss skip out on social time because they worry—consciously or subconsciously—that their hearing will get in the way. Ambient noise and background noise make it harder to understand what’s going on around you, so it’s not uncommon to experience a dip in self-confidence or your desire to be social if you start losing your hearing.
6. One ear hears less clearly than the other.
If you snap your fingers on both sides of your head, can you hear the sound better out of one ear? This may be a sign of a physical problem causing hearing loss, like a blockage or nerve damage.
7. You depend on lip reading more than you have in the past.
Everyone’s tried to read a friend’s lips across a crowded space, whether you’re signaling something to a coworker or trying to gossip with your cousin at a family event. Lip reading helps people with hearing disabilities understand the world around them, but it’s easy to feel lost or confused if that skill gets taken away. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people discovered new hearing loss when they could no longer read lips because of masks.
8. High-pitched noises are harder to hear.
Do you struggle to understand your grandkids? Difficulty with high-pitched voices or noises, like fire alarms or cell phone ringtones, can be a sign you’re losing your hearing. The same is true of the reverse: difficulty with deep voices or deep tones might signal hearing issues.
9. You’re answering questions inappropriately or incorrectly.
How can you expect to give the correct answer if you don’t understand the question? If you’re getting a lot of odd looks from customers and coworkers when they ask you for help, you might be having trouble with your ears.
10. You struggle ordering at the drive-through.
Anything that distorts voices—drive-through speakers, phones, megaphones, or other low-quality amplifiers—can wreak havoc on comprehension for someone with hearing loss. Fuzzy audio, like poor radio signal, can make it feel like someone’s speaking a language you don’t know.
11. Your ears ring all the time.
Tinnitus, or long-term ringing in the ears, is an early sign of hearing loss. Tinnitus is not a disease or condition on its own, but ofen a side effect of other problems like infection, disease, or injury. It’s normal for your ears to ring after a loud event, like when you leave a concert, but if that ringing, humming, or whooshing lasts longer than a couple hours, it’s time to see your doctor.
12. You’ve dealt with major or chronic sound exposure.
Construction sites, theaters, heavy equipment, and more can damage your hearing over time. Or, if you experience an extremely loud moment—like an explosion—your hearing may change as a result.
13. You miss what someone says if they’re in another room.
If you depend more and more on lip reading, it’s a struggle to understand someone if they’re turned away from you or yelling from downstairs. Sounds from far away become harder to hear the further your hearing loss progresses.
14. You get annoyed when people mumble or whisper.
Why is everyone grumbling all the time? It can feel like the world’s keeping secrets if you don’t understand what someone says even though you know they’re talking. If you’re constantly asking people to speak up, or getting annoyed when someone seems to mumble through a conversation with you, that might be a sign your hearing has changed.
15. You’ve been clumsy lately.
Conditions that cause hearing loss are also known to interfere with balance. Hearing loss can also cause dizziness or vertigo, a sensation that you’re falling even though you have both feet on the ground. If you’re walking into things, tripping over your own feet, or bumping into walls more often, a problem with your ears might be the culprit.
16. Jokes aren’t as funny as they used to be.
If you miss pieces of the joke or don’t understand the punchline, it’s no wonder you don’t laugh as hard as everyone else.
17. You’re more easily distracted.
Hearing loss makes it harder to understand normal conversations, which forces you to concentrate harder to keep up your half of the interaction. If you’re spending all your energy focused on communication, you might find your attention wandering even when you’re not talking to someone.
18. When driving, it feels like road hazards sneak up on you.
Ambulances, police sirens, and even other cars may sound muffled or not register at all until they’re nearly on top of you. Hearing loss can make it harder to know when to give someone else the right of way and add stress to your daily drives.
19. You have trouble telling apart consonants and similar sounds.
Sounds like “s” and “th” can get mixed up, making it feel like everyone around you has a lisp. Or, you can understand long vowel sounds (“ooh” and “ahh”), but not the consonants that make up the rest of the word. You might mix up similar sounds like “bee” and “dee,” or miss soft consonant sounds altogether.
20. You’ve had communication challenges with strangers that impact your self-confidence.
Have store clerks or waiters acted miffed or exasperated after you ask them to repeat themselves? Their behavior might be rude, making it harder and more unpleasant to communicate with strangers, especially in noisy environments.
21. Your friends and family have started asking you about your hearing.
Often, hearing loss symptoms start out so mild that we don’t notice we’re having problems with our hearing at all. Sometimes, the first sign we get is when a family member asks—whether they’re making a joke or being serious—if you need to get your ears checked. If you’re getting that question a lot from friends and family, it might be a good idea to have your hearing tested.
Remember, hearing loss doesn’t affect everyone equally.
Depending on your lifestyle, you might have spent a lot of time at rock concerts or worked a career on loud job sites. Or, if you played high-contact sports in high school and college (think boxing, football, and rugby), you might have sustained minor hearing loss from injuries that didn’t feel so serious back then.
Simple things like aging or genetics can also put you at a higher risk of losing your hearing. As we age, hearing loss we didn’t notice as young adults slowly becomes more pronounced, even if we never experienced a major sound event or chronic loud noise.
Around the world, hearing loss affects more than 500 million people. The good news is that hearing loss research, technology, and treatment has become more and more advanced. In some cases, a simple amplifier like a hearing aid can make a huge improvement on what you hear. In other cases, surgical interventions like cochlear implants can help you hear more clearly.
What can I do about hearing loss?
If you or a family member have noticed early signs of hearing loss, reach out to your doctor or schedule a hearing test at a local clinic. Hearing tests, usually provided by audiologists, provide information about your current hearing abilities and better inform doctors when they make recommendations for hearing improvement.
Depending on the doctor you see, your care can be customized to your ears and your needs. Everyone experiences hearing loss differently, so be sure to work with a team that understands your medical history and plans for the future.
It’s worth mentioning that a hearing loss diagnosis can be a lot to process. Make sure you’re taking care of your mental health, not just your physical health.
And if you’re a family member concerned about someone else’s hearing, try to be patient. Many people don’t want to deal with hearing loss or admit that they’re losing their hearing because it makes them feel “old” or incompetent.
Hearing loss research advances every day, but it may take time to find a treatment or device that works for you. Consider connecting with a local support group or medical advisor to support you through the process.
Where can I get more information about hearing loss?
For more information, see Ability Central’s articles on:
You’re not alone.
Hearing loss, especially when it’s severe, can lead to a new way of life—but that doesn’t mean it has to be a worse life. Remember that you’re not alone on this journey.
Organizations like Ability Central provide resources about hearing loss that can help you understand what to expect. Plus, local nonprofits offer social, medical, and financial support for people who are Deaf or hard of hearing.
If you’re not sure where to start when looking for hearing loss support, check out our Service Locator tool. Ability Central maintains a database of nonprofits all over the country offering services for people with hearing loss.
