Severe Hearing Loss: What Should I Look Out For?

Friday, August 24, 2012 | Unknown at 8:01 PM |

The world is one of the quietest places around for 37 million Americans. Simple conversations have turned into a whisper that is not even audible. Music has transformed into nothing more than a hum in the distance. Anyone who has severe hearing loss can understand how isolated they feel. If you are unable to hear anything, you are not able to engage in conversations around you. You will be unable to take part in the world going on around you. Having a timely diagnosis and proper management techniques for your profound hearing loss will help to improve your life dramatically. As soon as you begin to notice the signs and symptoms of hearing loss, you need to go to a doctor for an evaluation. Below you will learn the various causes of hearing loss and what to look out for to make sure you are diagnosed in a timely fashion.

Severe Hearing Loss Signs and Symptoms

If you lose your hearing all of a sudden or throughout the years, you will have trouble making out what others are saying during conversation. Sounds that you once heard will become muffled and eventually fade out completely.

Depending on what caused your loss of hearing in the first place, you may also experience some of the following symptoms:

• Pain for one or both ears
• Feeling of dizziness and vertigo
• Tinnitus
• Feelings of pressure and fullness in one or both ears

Most of the time, people with severe levels will end up withdrawing socially because they are uncomfortable having to ask others to repeat themselves multiple times in an attempt to understand what they are saying.

How to Determine the Severity of the Hearing Loss

An audiogram may need to be conducted to determine how severe the loss is. The doctor will look at the decibel range to help measure your individual levels of sound intensity at which you can hear. People who have perfect hearing will be able to hear sounds at any level of intensity. Someone who has severe loss will only be able to pick up sounds that are extremely loud.

Normal hearing has been determined to be anything between 0 and 15 decibels, which includes the lowest intensity level for an individual to be heard. Someone who has normal levels of hearing can hear something as quiet as another person breathing, which measures at around ten decibels. Mild levels of hearing loss measure in at around 16 to 25 decibels, with moderate loss of hearing at 41 to 55 decibels. Anyone with severe hearing loss will measure at about 56 to 90 decibels.

They will not be able to understand another person talking, even though they are able to make out really loud sounds like backfiring of a vehicle or an airplane leaving the airport.

Nancy Sideri is a licensed Hearing Instrument Dispenser and Aural Rehabilitation Specialist and has over 17 years experience working with hearing-impaired individuals. Nancy began her career as a Hearing Instrument Specialist in association with Starkey Laboratories, the world's largest hearing aid manufacturer. Nancy specializes in expert testing and interpreting scores, appropriate instrument selection and level of technology that is best suited to fit personal lifestyle needs and is an industry leader in developing a personalized interactive aural rehabilitation program specifically designed to understand your unique loss characteristics, to help you achieve your "personal best" hearing solution with integrity and compassion.