You want to be polite when you are talking with friends. At work, you want to look involved, even enthralled with what your boss/co-worker/customers are talking about. You regularly 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.
You need to move in a little closer when you’re on conference calls. You watch for facial hints, listen for inflection, and pay close attention to body language. You read lips. And if none of that works, you nod as if you heard every word.
Don’t fool yourself. You missed a lot of what was said, and you’re struggling to keep up. You might not know it, but years of progressive hearing loss can have you feeling isolated and frustrated, making projects at work and life at home needlessly difficult.
According to some studies, situational factors including environmental acoustics, background noise, competing signals, and environmental awareness have a major influence on the way a person hears. But for individuals who suffer from hearing loss, these factors are made even more difficult.
Watch out for these behaviors
There are some revealing habits that will raise your awareness of whether you’re in denial about how your hearing impairment is affecting your professional life:
- Asking others what was said after pretending to hear what they were saying
- Leaning in during conversations and unconsciously cupping your hand over your ear
- Finding it harder to hear over the phone
- Requesting that repeat themselves over and over again
- Feeling as if people are mumbling and not speaking clearly
- Unable to hear others talking from behind you
While it might feel like this snuck up on you suddenly, chances are your hearing impairment didn’t happen overnight. Most people wait an average of 7 years before accepting the issue and seeking help.
This means that if your hearing loss is problematic now, it has most likely been going unaddressed and neglected for some time. Hearing loss is no joke so stop kidding yourself and make an appointment right away.