Hearing Loss
Your hearing system
Symptoms of hearing loss include:
- Hearing but not understanding what others are saying
- Difficulty following conversations in groups or noisy places
- Needing information repeated
- Listening exhaustion after attending social events
- Turning the television up louder than others
- Avoiding social events
- Balance difficulties
- Tinnitus – noises in one or both ears
Understanding Hearing Loss
Your type of hearing loss is categorised by where the issue occurs (i.e. outer, middle or inner ear) and whether one or both ears are affected (unilateral or bilateral). Hearing loss may also be described by whether it was present at birth (congenital) or progressive or acquired (e.g. head injury).
Hearing loss can further be described by severity which ranges from mild to profound.
Types of hearing loss
Degrees of hearing loss
You will be experiencing increasing difficulty understanding speech, particularly in groups and noisy environments.
You will be unable to hear others speaking at normal conversation levels and struggle in all listening environments.
If you have a profound hearing loss you will not hear others speaking at loud conversation levels and will heavily rely on visual information.
Need additional help in challenging listening situations?
We're All Ears!
For those listening situations where even the most advanced hearing technology does not meet all your listening goals, assistive listening devices can provide the added boost needed over distance or in loud background noise.
