Why is It So Tricky For Someone to Notice When They Start To Lose Their Hearing
All kinds of things require regular upkeep and you don’t think twice about it. When you change the oil in your car, they tuck a little sticker up in the corner of your windshield to remind you of the mileage or the date when you will next require an oil change. And everyone has come to accept that part of being a responsible car owner is keeping on top of the oil changes when they are necessary.
If you are a homeowner, you know the monthly, biannual, and annual checkups that you need to do around your house to be sure to catch any little problems before they become bigger problems: changing the filters, checking the batteries in the alarms, cleaning out the gutters. Such necessary upkeep is normalized because we can all recognize how much it benefits us and simplifies our lives to take a little preventative action.
Why in the world should you treat your body any differently? Your body is your most immediate and intimate home. It is simultaneously true that you are aware of your body and you are your body. Many people have thought for ages that this awareness is specifically what differentiates us from other species.
Disregarding any cultural norms of health, it would seem it should be only intuitive that we would all prioritize our health above all else. But we know that that is just not the case. So often it is just more comfortable in the immediate to be a couch potato than to go for a jog. But eventually you will feel the consequences of so many little decisions in your waistline. Your hearing health is similar.
It is so common for someone in the earliest stages of hearing loss to not even recognize that a problem is emerging. It happens so gradually, how could you notice? So you have turned up the television on extra notch compared to last week. So you are concentrating a smidge more to make out exactly what someone is saying when you are seated next to a vent. Would you really notice the difference?
Think about it: your five senses are quite literally the manner through which you engage with everything in the world that you identify as being beyond the border that defines your sense of self. This is the case of your experience of being 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from the moment that you were born. At each moment every day, you adjust your environment best you can to your standards of comfort in the immediate. How much of your time each day is your environment really completely beyond your control? The adjustments that you continuously make all day are all intuitive. You hardly notice. So why would you even notice if your hearing is no longer as clear and sharp as it was?
One day to the next, the change would be imperceptible. One week to the next would likely be imperceptible too. One month to the next, if you could somehow leap from one experience of your own hearing to the next without experiencing the entire duration in between, the change would again most likely be imperceptible.
But one year to the next? Or the change over three years? You might be surprised.
Why Hearing Exams Matter
This is why hearing exams matter. Because you will not notice the change in your own hearing when you are going about your day. You can always adjust your own home to your advantage and the subway will always be loud. How will you notice the change in yourself?
But a hearing exam performed by a trained specialist gives you an objective measurement. And with this objective measurement you can take appropriate action in response.
But if you can always adjust to your own home and the subway is always loud, how will you know when it is the appropriate time to get a hearing exam? You will not. Your body may be the vehicle for your consciousness, but there’s no sticker to tuck up in the corner of your vision to remind you that the time and miles have been reached. Make the New Year your reminder to take care of yourself.
But if you can always adjust to your own home and the subway is always loud, maybe hearing loss is a minor irritation that you can just learn to live with? No. Untreated hearing loss creates unnecessary risks for your physical safety and your emotional and psychological health.
Do not put it off. Celebrate the New Year by making a commitment to your own health. Make an appointment with one of our trained specialists today.