In conversation with friends, you like to be polite. At work, you want to look involved, even enthralled with what your supervisor/co-worker/clients are talking about. You frequently find yourself needing family to repeat themselves because it was less difficult to tune out parts of the discussion that you couldn’t hear very well.
On zoom calls you move in closer. You look for facial cues, listen for inflection, and pay close attention to body language. You attempt to read people’s lips. And if none of that works, you nod in understanding as if you heard every word.
Maybe you’re in denial. You missed a lot of the conversation, and you’re struggling to keep up. You may not realize it, but years of cumulative hearing loss can have you feeling cut off and discouraged, making projects at work and life at home needlessly overwhelming.
Some research shows that situational factors such as environmental acoustics, background noise, competing signals, and situational awareness have a major influence on how a person hears. But for people who have hearing loss, these factors are made even more challenging.
Watch out for these behaviors
There are some tell-tale habits that will raise your awareness of whether you’re in denial about how your hearing impairment is affecting your professional life:
- Constantly needing to ask people to repeat themselves
- Having a difficult time hearing what others behind you are saying
- Feeling as if people are mumbling and not talking clearly
- Cupping your hands over your ear or leaning in close to the person who is speaking without noticing it
- Pretending to understand, only to follow up with others to get about what was said
- Missing what people are saying when on phone conversations
While it might feel like this crept up on you suddenly, chances are your hearing loss didn’t occur overnight. 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. Start by making an appointment now, and stop kidding yourself, hearing loss is no joke.