Your workplace recently embraced the trend of open-office floor plans, promoting cooperation and teamwork. But this new setup has become challenging for you. It’s because the elevated noise is making it difficult to follow along with conversation and not because you miss the privacy of cubical walls.
The inability to follow conversations in noisy settings frequently serves as an early indicator of hearing loss, despite conventional hearing exams producing normal outcomes. This indicates that having “normal” hearing doesn’t guarantee the capacity to comprehend speech effectively.
The complexity of speech perception
Speech comprehension is a complex mental task that involves considerable brainpower. Optimal hearing abilities are needed to differentiate voices in noisy environments.
As hearing begins to decline, the brain faces challenges in separating and processing speech signals amongst competing sounds. Because of this, it becomes mentally exhausting to be in loud environments like restaurants and bustling offices.
How to identify the early signs of hearing loss
Here are a number of ways that early hearing loss can manifest:
- The brain needs to work extra hard to comprehend speech leading to increased mental fatigue.
- When in noisy settings, conversations are hard to make out.
- Social isolation.
Hearing loss assessments
It can be especially hard to identify these kinds of challenges when standard hearing diagnostics seem to show normal hearing. Here are some tests being formulated by scientists to identify hearing loss in its early stages:
- The Eye Test: A special set of glasses is used in this test. The movement and dilation of your pupils can be tracked with these glasses. If your pupils behave in a specific way, it implies that you’re concentrating a little harder than normal. But it may be an indication that you’re straining to hear if this happens in a noisy setting.
- Monitoring Electrical Signals: The electrical signal sent from your ears to your brain is tracked by an EEG in this test. It will be a potent sign that you’re having some hearing trouble if these signals change in a certain way when you’re in a crowded place.
These tests, in conjunction with personal observations, aim to detect hearing problems at their emergent phases, facilitating early intervention.
What are the benefits of early detection?
There are two significant advantages to early detection.
- It reduces aggravation by providing clarity about the challenges of being in places like open office plans.
- Mental decline related to untreated hearing loss can be prevented with early detection.
Think about finding help if you’re having trouble understanding speech even with “normal” hearing.
Overall mental function and auditory health will be improved by early diagnosis. Schedule a hearing exam today and explore solutions right for you.