You want to be courteous when you’re talking to friends. You want your customers, colleagues, and boss to see that you’re completely engaged when you’re at work. With family, you may find it less difficult to just tune out the conversation and ask the person near you to repeat what you missed, just a little louder, please.
On zoom calls you move in closer. You look for facial cues, listen for inflection, tune in to body language. You read lips. And if all else fails – you fake it.
Maybe your in denial. You missed lots of the conversation, and you’re straining to catch up. Life at home and projects at work have become unnecessarily overwhelming and you are feeling aggravated and cut off due to years of cumulative hearing loss.
The ability for someone to hear is impacted by situational variables such as background sound, contending signals, room acoustics, and how comfortable they are with their setting, according to research. These factors are relevant, but it can be a lot worse for people who suffer from hearing loss.
There are some tell-tale behaviors that will raise your awareness of whether you’re in denial about how your hearing impairment is affecting your professional life:
- Requesting that people repeat themselves again and again… and again
- Feeling like people are mumbling and not speaking clearly
- Cupping your ear with your hand or leaning in close to the person talking without noticing it
- Missing important parts of phone conversations
- Not able to hear others talking behind you
- Pretending to comprehend, only to follow up with others to get what you missed
Hearing loss most likely didn’t take place overnight even though it may feel that way. Most people wait 7 years on average before accepting the problem and seeking help.
So if you’re noticing symptoms of hearing loss, you can bet that it’s been occurring for some time undetected. Hearing loss is no joke so stop fooling yourself and schedule an appointment right away.