You may think hearing loss should be simple to identify, but it’s not as straightforward to recognize as you may think.

First, many individuals with hearing loss have difficulty only with certain sounds and in specific scenarios. So, if you can hear normally on some occasions, you’ll tend to blame other factors or other people for the instances that you do have trouble hearing.

Second, hearing loss appears slowly as time passes, so it’s difficult to detect the slow development. It’s faster and easier to blame other people for mumbling, or to turn up the TV volume a bit louder, than to acknowledge that you may possibly have hearing loss.

So, the signs can be elusive. You have to understand what to watch out for, and although it’s easy to disavow that you have hearing loss, you should be honest with yourself about the warning signs.

Here are the top 10 to watch out for. If you recognize any, it may be time to schedule a hearing test.

1. You experience ringing or buzzing in the ears – this may be an indication of permanent hearing damage. Hearing aids can not only help you to hear better, but they may additionally be able to minimize the ringing in your ears.
2. You can’t hear normal household sounds – hearing loss can make it difficult to hear the doorbell, the phone ringing, or another person shouting your name from another room.
3. You have trouble comprehending TV dialogue – speech is typically a lot more challenging to hear than other kinds of sound. This frequently manifests itself as difficulty following movie or television show plots.
4. You have your cellphone, TV, or radio at max volume – if you can hear the television, phone, or radio better than you can hear personal conversations, check the volume settings on your devices. You might have these gadgets set at elevated volumes while simultaneously thinking that everyone else speaks too softly.
5. You ask people to repeat themselves frequently – you realize that you say “what?” a lot, or that you have to ask people to repeat themselves when you’re not facing them.
6. You commonly misconstrue what people are saying – consonants are higher-pitched, and thus much more difficult to hear, than vowels. Since consonants communicate the majority of the meaning in a sentence, speech comprehension suffers.
7. You have difficulty hearing all the words in a discussion – particular sounds and letters are more difficult to hear than others. This means you can hear the majority of the words in a sentence, but that you have to many times try to fill in the blanks.
8. You have difficulty hearing when your back is to the speaker – you may rely on lip reading, nonverbal communication, and other hints to meaning more than you realize. When you’re not facing the speaker, and can’t use these hints, you may have difficulty comprehending speech.
9. You have trouble hearing with lots of background noise – as hearing loss becomes worse, contending noise becomes more of a problem. You may have the ability to hear speech in tranquil areas, but it becomes more and more difficult to follow conversations in a loud setting like a restaurant.
10. People complain that you shout or have the TV volume too loud – people may remark that you have the TV volume too loud or that you have the predisposition to yell. It doesn’t seem this way to you because you’re compensating for your hearing loss.

Do you notice one or more of the top 10 warning signs of hearing loss? If yes, book your hearing test today, and take the steps to begin living a better, more productive, and healthier life.