Your workplace has chosen to encourage teamwork and collaboration by opening up the office floor plan. But this new setup has become difficult for you. Not because you miss the privacy of cubicle walls, but because the increased noise makes it hard to follow conversations.
The inability to follow conversations in loud settings frequently serves as an early indicator of hearing loss, in spite of conventional hearing exams producing normal outcomes. You still may have trouble discerning conversations even with “Normal” hearing.
Speech comprehension is a complex mental process that involves considerable brainpower. Distinguishing speech from background noise and focusing on particular voices amongst a cacophony of sounds demands optimal hearing abilities.
As hearing begins to go, the brain encounters difficulties in separating and processing speech signals amongst competing noises. Because of this, it becomes mentally exhausting to be in loud settings like restaurants and bustling offices.
How to recognize the early signs of hearing loss
Here are a few ways that early hearing loss can manifest:
- Increased mental exhaustion due to heightened concentration required for listening.
- When in noisy settings, conversations are hard to understand.
- Social isolation.
Hearing loss assessments
It can be particularly hard to identify these types of challenges when standard hearing diagnostics seem to reveal normal hearing. Here are a couple of tests being developed by scientists to identify hearing loss in its early stages:
- The Eye Test: A special pair of glasses is used in this test. The movement and dilation of your pupils can be tracked with these glasses. If you’re concentrating a little harder than normal your pupils will behave in a specific way. So if this tends to occur in crowded or noisy areas, it could be a sign that you’re having to strain to hear.
- Monitoring Electrical Signals: The electrical signal sent from your ears to your brain is monitored by an EEG in this test. If these signals change in a particular way while you’re in a crowded or noisy setting, that could be a firm indication of some problems with your hearing.
These tests, coupled with personal observations, aim to identify hearing problems at their nascent stages, aiding early intervention.
What are the benefits of early detection?
Discovering even minor hearing loss early provides two substantial advantages.
- Cognitive decline associated with neglected hearing loss can be prevented with early detection.
- It reduces aggravation by supplying clarity about the challenges of being in places like open office plans.
If you’re experiencing difficulty following conversations despite “normal” hearing, consider finding a professional evaluation.
Overall mental function and auditory health will be improved by early diagnosis. Contact us today and let us help you with any hearing loss you might have.