Do I Have a Hearing Problem?
Ask yourself the following questions. If you answer “yes” to three or more of these questions, you could have a hearing problem and may need to have your hearing checked by a doctor.
Yes/No
○ ○ Do I have a problem hearing on the telephone?
○ ○ Do I have trouble hearing when there is noise in the back ground?
○ ○ Is it hard for me to follow a conversation when two or more people talk at once?
○ ○ Do I have to strain to understand a conversation?
○ ○ Do many people I talk to seem to mumble (or not speak clearly)?
○ ○ Do I misunderstand what others are saying and respond inappropriately?
○ ○ Do I often ask people to repeat themselves?
○ ○ Do I have trouble understanding the speech of women and children?
○ ○ Do people complain that I turn the TV volume up too high?
○ ○ Do I hear a ringing, roaring, or hissing sound a lot?
○ ○ Do some sounds seem too loud?
What treatments and devices can help?
- Hearing aids: You and your audiologist can work together until you are comfortable.
- Personal listening systems: Help you hear what you want to hear while eliminating or lowering other noises around you.
- TV listening systems: Help you listen to the TV or the radio without being bothered by other noises around you.
- Telephone amplifying devices. Some telephones are made to work with certain hearing aids. If your hearing aid has a “T” switch, you can ask your telephone company about getting a phone with an amplifying coil (T-coil).
- Mobile phone amplifying devices. To help people who use a T-coil hear better on mobile phones.
- Auditorium-type assistive listening systems: Many auditoriums, movie theaters, and other public places habe special sound systems for people with hearing loss.
- Cochlear (COKE-lee-ur) implants: The headpiece includes a microphone and a transmitter. It is worn just behind the ear where The speech processor converts the sound into a special signal that is sent to the receiver. The receiver, a small round disc about the size of a quarter that a surgeon places under the skin behind one ear, sends a sound signal to the brain. Older adults with profound or severe hearing loss are beginning to receive these implants more often.