According to one recent survey, nearly 30% of people have gone more than ten years without getting a hearing test. One of those people is Sofia. She goes to her annual doctor’s appointments, she visits a dentist every six months, and she gets the oil changed in her car every 3000 miles. But she hasn’t had a hearing exam in a long time.

Hearing tests are beneficial for a wide variety of reasons, the most important of which is that it’s usually difficult for you to discover the earliest signs of hearing loss if you don’t get one. Sophia can keep her hearing healthy for a lot longer by determining how frequently to get her ears tested.

How Frequently Should You Have a Hearing Assessment?

If the last time Sofia took a hearing examination was a decade ago, we could be alarmed. Or we might think it’s perfectly normal. Our reaction, and the reaction of her hearing specialist, most likely will vary depending on her age. This is because hearing specialists have different recommendations based on age.

• If you’re over fifty years old: But if you’re above the age of fifty, the recommendation is, you have a hearing exam every year. Hearing loss is more likely to affect your life as you get older because noise damage begins to add up. Also, there are other health concerns that can affect your hearing.
• It’s generally recommended that you take a hearing assessment every three years or so. There’s no problem having your ears checked more frequently, of course! The very least is every three years. You should definitely get tested more frequently if you are frequently in a loud environment. There’s no reason not to get it done, it’s painless and easy.

If you would like to undergo hearing examinations or tests more frequently, there’s obviously no harm in that, at least when it comes to your hearing. The sooner you recognize any issues, the sooner you’ll be able to address whatever hearing loss that might have developed since your last hearing test.

You Should Get Your Hearing Checked if You Notice These Signs

There are definitely other times besides your annual hearing exam that you might want to make an appointment with your hearing specialist. Occasionally, you begin to notice some signs of hearing loss. And in those circumstances, it’s usually a good plan to promptly contact a hearing specialist and schedule a hearing test.

Some of the signs that might prompt you to get a hearing test could include:

• Having a tough time making out consonants (generally, consonants are spoken in a higher pitch than vowels, and it’s those high-frequency sounds that are generally the first to go as hearing loss takes hold)
• Sounds seem muffled; it’s starting to sound as though you constantly have water in your ears.
• Listening to your favorite tunes at extremely high volumes.
• Phone interactions are always tough to understand
• Problems hearing conversations in noisy situations.
• Regularly asking people to slow down or repeat themselves during a conversation.

A strong indicator that right now is the best time to have a hearing test is when the warning signs begin to add up. You need to know what’s happening with your hearing and that means getting a hearing test sooner rather than later.

What Are The Benefits of Hearing Testing?

There are plenty of excuses why Sofia may be late in having her hearing exam. Maybe she hasn’t considered it. Possibly she’s just avoiding dealing with it. But getting your hearing examined on the recommended schedule has actual advantages.

And it will be easier to identify hearing deviations in the future if you get your hearing examined by forming a baseline reading even if it seems as if everything is normal. If you detect your hearing loss before it becomes obvious, you can protect it better.

The point of regular hearing testing is that somebody like Sofia will be enabled to detect problems before her hearing is impaired permanently. Early diagnosis by a hearing test can help your hearing stay healthy for a long time. Considering the effects of hearing loss on your general health, that’s important.