When to Get a Hearing Test: Signs, Risks, and Prevention

Hearing loss, which is more common with age, is linked to mood problems and cognitive impairment. One of the biggest barriers to treatment is gradual hearing loss, which the sufferer may not realize until later in life. This is why regular screening is crucial, especially after the age of 50. Poor hearing has far-reaching effects. This problem is associated with depression, concentration, and memory issues, and can negatively affect relationships with friends, family, and coworkers. To avoid these consequences, it is important to have your hearing checked regularly by ENT consultants West Yorkshire.This checkup is useful even if you have no concerns about your hearing. 

Checkup becomes urgent

1. Check up becomes especially urgent if you notice any of the following:
2. You constantly ask those around you to speak more slowly or to repeat themselves
3. Turn up the volume on the TV, and other people complain
4. Entourage advises you to have your hearing tested
5. Find it difficult to have a conversation in a restaurant
6. Conversations sound muffled, as if you are underwater
7. Have trouble deciphering consonants
8. You have trouble hearing on the phone

Gradual hearing loss

Hearing loss is associated with certain mood and cognitive problems, but it also becomes more common with age. This change is linked to factors like long-term noise exposure, which damages the tiny cells in your ear. As we age, we are also more likely to suffer from conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes, which are associated with hearing loss. One of the major barriers to accessing care occurs when people with gradual age-related hearing loss don't realize they have it. This is why regular screening is so important. Start by discussing this test with your ear, nose, and throat specialist. They will be able to check if you have an ear infection or excess earwax that could explain the hearing loss. If they don't notice any factors blocking your ear canal, they will be able to refer you to an audiologist who will perform more precise tests and, if necessary, suggest a hearing aid.

Beware of noise: hearing fatigue exists!

ENT Specialists say that excessive noise can also cause the ears to become tired when the noise is too loud or prolonged. While this is reversible, it should be noted so that you can turn down the volume and rest.

• The following are symptoms of hearing fatigue:
• The right reflexes after a sound trauma

Tinnitus and deafness are the long-term consequences

It has long been known that hours spent in front of a screen can tire the eyes. However, it is less well known that this phenomenon can also affect the ears! Overly loud or prolonged noise sometimes causes unpleasant symptoms. This is a sign that certain fragile cells in the inner ear, the hair cells, have suffered. Auditory fatigue is reversible, but if it occurs too often, it can cause progressive and insidious deafness. 

Hearing capital is not renewed

When sound enters the ear, it is first conducted to the eardrum, which transforms it into vibrations. These vibrations are amplified and travel through different parts of the ear to the hair cells lining the cochlea, inside the inner ear. There, they are transformed into nerve impulses transmitted to the brain by the auditory nerve. Each ear has 15,000 hair cells at birth: this is our hearing capacity. It is precious because these cells play a decisive role in understanding language, and once destroyed, they do not renew themselves.

Hearing impairment begins at 80 decibels

“Any noise above 80 dB can damage hair cells and cause hearing fatigue, and this happens more quickly the louder the sound. According to the ENT private clinic, it takes 8 hours of exposure to 80 decibels (dB) to damage hearing, but only 1 hour at 89 dB, and a few minutes at 100 dB.

These noise levels are quite easily found in our daily lives, particularly in leisure activities:

• The sound of a portable player pushed to its maximum represents 100 dB
• Many DIY devices, such as impact drills, flirt with 95 dB
• The noise of a lawnmower reaches 90 dB

A concert or the music in a discotheque subjects our ears to a noise that oscillates between 105 and 110 dB, knowing that the pain threshold is located at 120 dB.

Symptoms of hearing fatigue

"Hearing fatigue is a sensation of having cotton in your ears, or a ringing in your ears," says the Best ENT surgeon. "It then becomes more difficult to distinguish sounds and voices when there is noise around, and you have to ask for repetition. This is a real hearing loss, but it is temporary."Hearing fatigue only appears above a certain volume. It should not be confused with psychological or even physical fatigue caused by continuous noise at a lower level.

Working in the hubbub of a restaurant or open-plan office (70 dB), for example, can create stress, irritability, and even attention deficits and depressive symptoms. The same goes for city traffic. " These are very tiring situations, but the noise level is not sufficient to cause real hearing fatigue.

Vigilant for the first hearing symptoms

Not everyone reacts to noise in the same way, so it's important to be vigilant for the first hearing symptoms. Having suffered from repeated ear infections may increase this sensitivity. This is also the case with certain medications, such as antibiotics or diuretics, and chemicals that may be present in the workplace, such as aromatic solvents.

The right reflexes after a sound trauma

"You need to rest your ear in a quiet environment for about twice the amount of time you were exposed to the noise. If the sensations persist, it's best to seek a private clinic consultation, such as a Consultant ENT. "It's as if the person had been punched and suffered from swelling in the ear. One or two days after the acoustic trauma, we can still take action with corticosteroids," explains the ENT. "They generally allow some of the lost abilities to be recovered." It is important to react quickly, because the chances of recovery are low after seven days.

Tinnitus and deafness are the long-term consequences

Hair cells end up being destroyed without us realizing it; it is often those close to us who notice it. Even if the ear recovers, auditory fatigue accelerates its aging. Presbycusis, an age-related hearing loss, could occur as early as the age of fifty, instead of 60." Deafness isn't the only risk. In fact, in the long term, auditory fatigue can also cause tinnitus or hyperacusis, i.e., the amplification of all perceived noise. This is why prevention, which is simple to implement, remains essential. Wearing earplugs during a concert, noise-cancelling headphones when tinkering, limiting the volume of your portable music player to 60% of its power... These simple measures can already considerably reduce our noise exposure.