Have you ever tried to ignore a toothache? It can be pretty hard. Before long, you end up having no alternative but to consult a dentist. The same thing takes place when your eyesight begins to lose focus. You’ll most likely contact an ophthalmologist when you begin to have trouble reading street signs. The problem is, you might not show quite so much urgency when your hearing begins to go.

This would most likely be a mistake. There are considerable health problems (especially mental health issues) that can develop as a consequence of neglected hearing loss. Of course, you can only ignore your diminishing hearing if you’re actually aware of it. And there’s the second challenge.

Indications You Could Have Hearing Loss

We normally take our hearing for granted. A loud performance? No big deal.. Blaring ear pods? You prefer to listen to your podcasts this way. But your overall hearing will be substantially affected by all of these decisions, especially over time.

Sadly, those impacts might be difficult to detect. The signs of hearing loss can be nearly invisible because they sneak up so slowly over time. That’s why it’s a good idea to know some primary red flags (and to deal with them sooner than later):

• You have a hard time falling asleep at night and feel tired for no reason
• You continually blow the speakers in your earpods because you have the volume up too high
• Distorted or dull sounding speech from people near you (family, co-workers, friends)
• You keep turning up the volume on your television, car stereo, or your cellphone
• It’s hard to follow conversations in noisy or crowded surroundings
• Your short term memory tends to suddenly fail now and then
• When you listen to casual speech, you have an especially difficult time making out consonants
• You find yourself asking those around you to repeat themselves frequently

It’s fairly well recognized what these red flags and signs indicate. If your loss of hearing comes on particularly gradually, your brain will instantly start compensating for any hearing loss that occurs, making you somewhat oblivious, at first, to your symptoms. That’s the reason why all of these warning signs should be taken seriously, which means you should make an appointment to see your hearing specialist.

What Going to Happen if You Ignore Your Hearing Loss?

Some individuals are, certainly, obstinate. Or they simply don’t like the concept of wearing a hearing aid. They believe that wearing hearing aids causes them to appear old. But that isn’t actually the case (most hearing aids can be quite discreet, and being capable of conversing fluently is a benefit, also).

Still, it’s worth discussing what might happen if you neglect your hearing loss:

• Your hearing might worsen: If you don’t utilize hearing aids or increased hearing protection, you’ll keep turning the volume on your television up. Or you’ll keep going to rock shows without any earplugs. Which means you’ll keep doing damage to your ears and your hearing will almost definitely continue to decline because of it.
• Your relationships could diminish: There’s something that occurs when you have a hard time comprehending your family and friends: you start having fewer conversations with them. You quit saying hi, you quit checking in, you distance yourself. Some of those relationships will be damaged, particularly if no one has any idea that the root cause is loss of hearing (and not because you’re mad at them).
• Depression and cognitive decline could result: As your relationships fray and going out becomes more difficult, you may begin to experience symptoms of depression. You might also start to experience some mental decline if your brain doesn’t get the auditory stimulation that it’s used to, certain changes start to take place within your neural physiology. This can result in long term cognitive difficulties if your hearing loss isn’t treated.

Hearing Loss Shouldn’t be Ignored

Later on, clearly, bigger and more substantial problems can be caused by hearing loss. But the inverse is true: recognizing and managing your hearing loss can improve your quality of life significantly. Your daily life is more full and your relationships improve when you start to hear better. And increasing your awareness, either by seeing a hearing specialist or downloading a noise-monitoring app, can improve your complete hearing health.

You absolutely shouldn’t ignore the health concern of hearing loss. A happier life begins when you find the right treatment. Deal with your hearing loss before it gets too severe to ignore.