3 – Signs and Symptoms

Professionals need to recognize the signs and symptoms that indicate that hearing loss may be present in an individual. Recognizing the signs is helpful in detecting hearing loss in people who are not open to discussing their hearing difficulties or who may not be aware of their condition.

Consumers or patients who have hearing loss also need to know the signs that hearing loss may be present. Many times, people who know or suspect they have hearing loss believe that if they do not inform others about the hearing loss it will not be noticed. But, the signs and symptoms are there, and when problems occur, other people not relating the problems to hearing loss, may attribute them to something else. Unfortunately, that something else may not be in the consumer’s best interest, e.g., being seen as having low intelligence, personal problems, lack of social skills, or being uncooperative, lazy, etc.

The following are frequently observed signs and symptoms of hearing loss in which the person

Again, if the person who has hearing loss is not responding when addressed or is responding inappropriately, perhaps failing to comply with a request, what will other people think if they do not know that he or she has a hearing loss? It is better for the person who has hearing loss to have people know about the hearing loss than to have them think any of these other reasons are true.