You would think that hearing loss should be simple to spot, but it’s not as easy to notice as you might think.

To start, most individuals with hearing loss have challenges only with particular sounds and in distinct situations. And so, if you can hear normally on some occasions, you’ll have the tendency to blame other factors or other people for the occasions you do have trouble hearing.

Second, hearing loss comes about slowly through the years, so it’s difficult to notice the slow development. It’s easier to find fault with other people for mumbling, or to turn up the TV volume a little louder, than to admit that you may have hearing loss.

As a result, the signs and symptoms can be subtle. You have to know what to watch for, and although it’s convenient to reject that you have hearing loss, you should be truthful with yourself about the warning signs.

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

1. You experience ringing or buzzing in the ears – this may be indicative of permanent hearing damage. Hearing aids can not only cause you to hear better, but they may additionally be able to eliminate 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 a friend shouting your name from another room.
3. You have trouble comprehending TV dialogue – speech is typically a lot more challenging to hear than other sorts of sound. This frequently shows itself as difficulty following movie or television show plots.
4. You have your phone, television, or radio at maximum volume – if you can hear the TV, phone, or radio much better than you can hear personal discussions, check out the volume settings on your technology. You could have these devices set at elevated volumes while concurrently believing that everyone else talks too softly.
5. You request that people repeat themselves regularly – you recognize that you say “what?” a lot, or that you have to ask people to repeat themselves when you’re not facing them.
6. You frequently misunderstand what people are saying – consonants are higher-pitched, and therefore much more difficult to hear, than the lower-pitched vowels. Considering that consonants convey the majority of the meaning in a sentence, speech comprehension suffers.
7. You have trouble hearing all the words in a conversation – select sounds and letters are more challenging to hear than others. Consequently, you can hear most of the words in a sentence, but that you have to often times try to fill in the blanks.
8. You have trouble hearing when your back is to the speaker – you may be dependent on lip reading, body language, and other cues to meaning much more than you realize. When you’re not looking at the speaker, and can’t use these hints, you may have difficulty understanding speech.
9. You have trouble hearing with lots of background noise – as hearing loss gets to be more serious, competing noise becomes more of a problem. You might have the ability to hear speech in quiet environments, but it becomes increasingly difficult to follow conversations in a boisterous environment 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 shout. 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 so, arrange your hearing test today, and take the steps to start living a better, more productive, and healthier life.