Signs of hearing loss

Do people seem to be mumbling more than they used to? Are your friends complaining because it takes you forever to answer the phone? Are you asking people to repeat themselves more frequently? Do you find it easier to let your spouse do all the talking at parties because all the noise runs together and prevents you from understanding conversations around you?
If you answer yes to more than one of these questions, you may be one of the approximately 30 million Americans who are considered to be hearing impaired. Age-related hearing loss will ultimately happen to everyone, it just affects some of us earlier than it does others. Ears have a tendency to be like the family car. Sometimes they just don’t work, they get damaged, or they simply wear out.
Statistics indicate that, for many people, the loss of hearing begins at about age 55. In medical terminology, age-related hearing loss is called presbycusis -- presby meaning elder and akousis or hearing. Generally, this kind of hearing loss affects both ears; it is permanent because there has been some degeneration of nerve cells; it gradually worsens with age, and is more pronounced for high-pitched sounds.
If one or both of your parents had hearing difficulties relatively early in life, the odds are pretty good that you will experience some hearing impairment by the time your middle 50’s roll around. Medical science now has evidence that Mom was right when she said to turn down the stereo; there is a whole generation of people today who have hearing problems that are traceable to teen years spent with the volume permanently set on “max.”