You want to be courteous when you are talking with friends. You want your customers, co-workers, and boss to recognize that you’re totally engaged when you’re at work. You frequently find yourself needing family to repeat themselves because it was easier to tune out parts of the discussion that you weren’t able to hear very well.
You have to lean in a little closer when you’re on conference calls. You look for facial cues, listen for inflection, pay close attention to body language. You attempt to read people’s lips. And if that doesn’t work, you nod as if you heard every word.
Maybe your in denial. Your struggling to keep up because you missed most of what was said. Life at home and tasks at work have become unjustifiably overwhelming and you are feeling frustrated and cut off due to years of progressive hearing loss.
The ability for someone to hear is influenced by situational variables including background noise, competing signals, room acoustics, and how comfortable they are with their setting, according to research. These factors are relevant, but it can be much more severe for people who suffer from hearing loss.
There are some revealing behaviors that will alert you to whether you’re in denial about how your hearing impairment is impacting your professional life:
- Asking others what was said after pretending you heard what someone was saying
- Not able to hear others talking behind you
- Finding it harder to hear phone conversations
- Thinking people aren’t speaking clearly when all you can hear is mumbling
- Cupping your ear with your hand or leaning in close to the person talking without realizing it
- Asking people to repeat themselves again and again… and again
While it may feel like this crept up on you in an all-of-a-sudden way, chances are your hearing loss didn’t occur overnight. The majority of people wait 7 years on average before acknowledging the issue and seeking help.
This means if your hearing loss is problematic now, it has most likely been going un-addressed and untreated for some time. Hearing loss is no joke so stop kidding yourself and make an appointment right away.