Hearing Loss: Symptoms

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Symptoms

Symptoms of hearing loss include:

• Muffled hearing.
• Difficulty understanding what people are saying, especially when there are competing voices or background noise. You may be able to hear someone speaking, but you cannot distinguish the specific words.
• Listening to the television or radio at higher volume than in the past.
• Avoiding conversation and social interaction. Social situations can be tiring and stressful if you do not hear well. You may begin to avoid those situations as hearing becomes more difficult.
• Depression. Many adults may be depressed because of how hearing loss is affecting their social life.

Other symptoms that may occur with hearing loss include:

• Ringing, roaring, hissing, or buzzing in the ear (tinnitus).
• Ear pain, itching, or irritation.
• Pus or fluid leaking from the ear. This may result from an injury or infection that is causing hearing loss.
• Vertigo, which can occur with hearing loss caused by Ménière's disease, acoustic neuroma, or labyrinthitis.

The type of hearing loss you have often determines how well you hear in certain situations:

• If something is blocking sound from moving to the inner ear (conductive hearing loss), then the loss will be the same for low and high tones. As long as people speak loudly enough, you will still be able to tell the difference between similar sounding words (such as "thigh" and "high") and be able to hear with a noisy background. Examples of conductive hearing loss include earwax or a growth blocking sound, such as occurs in otosclerosis.
• If the inner ear is not working correctly (sensorineural hearing loss), then high tones (such as women's or children's voices) will be more difficult to hear than low sounds. It will probably be difficult to hear when there is background noise. Examples of sensorineural hearing loss include age-related and noise-induced hearing loss.

People who have hearing loss are sometimes not aware of it, especially when the loss has developed gradually, as is often the case in noise-induced and age-related hearing loss. Family members or friends often are the first to notice the hearing loss. Evaluate your hearing by taking a hearing loss self-test.

Last updated:	April 30, 2007
Author:	Monica Rhodes
Reviewed By:	Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine, Charles M. Myer, III, MD - Otolaryngology
Editors:	Kathleen M. Ariss, MS, Pat Truman, MATC