What Are the Signs of Hearing Loss?
Hearing loss can affect everyday life in many different ways. It may make it more difficult to connect with your surroundings, take part in conversations in busy restaurants, attend live events, or communicate comfortably with family and friends.
Some people begin avoiding social situations or lose interest in activities they previously enjoyed because listening has become tiring or frustrating. The effect on quality of life can be significant, but hearing support and treatment options are available.
What Are the First Signs of Hearing Loss?
Most hearing loss develops gradually, which means it may go unnoticed for some time. Family members, friends, or colleagues may sometimes notice the change before the person experiencing it.
Possible early signs of hearing loss include:
- You strain to follow conversations, especially in noisy places.
- You feel tired after listening or participating in conversations.
- You need to turn the television, radio, or other devices louder than before.
- You frequently ask people to repeat themselves.
- You can hear that someone is speaking but cannot always understand the words.
- It often seems as though other people are mumbling.
- Other people tell you that you are speaking too loudly.
- Your ears feel blocked, plugged, or clogged.
- You hear better in one ear than the other.
- You find group conversations difficult to follow.
- You have difficulty understanding speech over the telephone.
- You miss doorbells, alarms, telephone calls, or other everyday sounds.
Symptoms of Hearing Loss at Different Levels
The symptoms of hearing loss often depend on its degree, the sound frequencies affected, the listening environment, and whether one or both ears are involved. The examples below provide a general guide, but individual experiences can differ.
Hearing levels should be assessed through a comprehensive hearing test performed by a qualified hearing care professional.
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Mild Hearing Loss Symptoms
26 to 40 dB HLWith mild hearing loss, soft sounds such as birds chirping, a dripping tap, people breathing, leaves rustling, whispering, refrigerators humming, and cats purring may be difficult to hear.
People with mild hearing loss can often communicate well in quiet surroundings. However, speech becomes more difficult to understand when there is background noise.
High-frequency consonant sounds such as "s", "f", and "th" may be unclear or easily confused. A person may hear that someone is speaking but miss parts of individual words.
- Difficulty hearing soft environmental sounds
- Difficulty following speech in background noise
- Missing parts of words
- Confusing similar-sounding words
- Listening fatigue in group settings
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Moderate Hearing Loss Symptoms
41 to 55 dB HLWith moderate hearing loss, everyday sounds such as a telephone ringing, a fan running, laughter, rainfall, or a coffee machine may go unnoticed.
Speech at normal conversational levels becomes more difficult to hear and understand. Following a conversation requires greater effort, and words may be missed or misunderstood even in quiet surroundings.
Group discussions can be particularly tiring. Following an ordinary conversation may become extremely difficult when background noise is present.
- Missing everyday household sounds
- Frequently asking people to repeat themselves
- Difficulty following normal conversation
- Greater difficulty in groups
- Increasing television or radio volume
- Significant listening fatigue
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Moderate-to-Severe Hearing Loss Symptoms
56 to 70 dB HLNormal conversations can be difficult to hear with moderate-to-severe hearing loss, even in quiet situations.
Everyday sounds such as running water, an alarm clock, children playing, busy streets, electric toothbrushes, or washing machines may be missed.
Without hearing support, people with moderate-to-severe hearing loss often struggle to understand speech in most situations. Television and radio may no longer be understandable at normal volume levels.
- Difficulty hearing ordinary conversation
- Missing many common environmental sounds
- Major difficulty understanding speech in noise
- Needing much louder television or radio volume
- Depending increasingly on visual information such as lip movements
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Severe Hearing Loss Symptoms
71 to 90 dB HLWith severe hearing loss, music, traffic, and other environmental sounds may seem muffled. Following conversation usually requires significant concentration.
Even one-to-one conversations may sound unclear, mumbled, or indistinct. Speech at louder levels may sometimes be understood when there is no competing background noise.
Everyday sounds that may be missed include doorbells, telephones, traffic noise, vacuum cleaners, toilets flushing, workplace activity, and many ordinary office sounds.
- Difficulty following most normal conversations
- Speech sounding muffled or unclear
- Missing loud household and environmental sounds
- Heavy reliance on facial expressions and lip movements
- Significant communication difficulty without hearing support
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Profound Hearing Loss Symptoms
91 dB HL and abovePeople with profound hearing loss may be unable to hear ordinary speech and may only detect very loud sounds such as lawn mowers, motorcycles, ambulance sirens, or food blenders.
Speech at normal levels may not be audible. Even shouted speech may be difficult or impossible to understand.
People with profound hearing loss may use hearing technology, cochlear implants where clinically appropriate, sign language, lip-reading, visual alerts, or a combination of communication methods.
- Ordinary speech may not be audible
- Only very loud sounds may be detected
- Shouted speech may remain unclear
- Strong reliance on visual or signed communication
- Need for individualized hearing and communication support
When Should You Have Your Hearing Checked?
Consider arranging a hearing assessment if you regularly experience several of the signs described on this page, if other people have noticed a change in your hearing, or if hearing difficulties are affecting your communication, work, relationships, or daily activities.
A comprehensive hearing test can help identify whether hearing loss is present and determine its type, degree, and pattern.
Seek prompt medical advice if you experience sudden hearing loss, a rapid unexplained change in hearing, hearing loss following a head injury, severe ear pain, discharge from the ear, or hearing loss accompanied by other neurological symptoms.
This page provides general educational information and is not a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment. Speak with a qualified healthcare or hearing care professional if you are concerned about your hearing.
