According to one recent survey, nearly 30% of people have gone more than ten years without getting a hearing test. One of those people is Sofia. She goes to her annual doctor’s appointments, she sees a dentist every six months, and she has an oil change in her car every 3000 miles. But she has no idea the last time she took a hearing exam or underwent any sort of accurate hearing evaluation.

There are many reasons why it’s essential to get hearing evaluations, the most prominent of which is that it’s usually difficult for you to notice the earliest signs of hearing loss without one. Knowing how often she should get a hearing exam will help Sofia keep her ears (and hearing) as healthy as she can for as long as possible.

How Many Times Per Year Should my Hearing Get Tested?

We might be alarmed if Sophia hadn’t had a hearing exam in a decade. Or perhaps it doesn’t phase us. Depending on how old Sophia is, reactions could vary. That’s because hearing specialists have different recommendations based on age.

• If you’re older than fifty: But if you’re over fifty, the suggestion is, you get a hearing test yearly. Hearing loss is more liable to affect your life as you get older because noise damage starts to add up. Also, there are other health concerns that can impact your hearing.
• It’s normally suggested that you undergo a hearing assessment every three years or so. Of course, if you think you should get your ears examined more often, that’s also fine. But once every three years is the bare minimum. If you are exposed to loud noise repeatedly or work in a field where noise is typical, you should decide to get checked more often. It’s straight forward and painless and there’s truly no reason not to get it done.

As far as your hearing is concerned, more often is definitely better. Since you last had a hearing exam, you might have new damage you should know about, so regular hearing exams might be helpful.

Signs You Should Get Your Hearing Checked

There are definitely other occasions besides your yearly hearing test that you might want to schedule an appointment with your hearing professional. In some cases, you start to notice some signs of hearing loss. And in those cases, it’s often a good idea to immediately contact a hearing specialist and schedule a hearing exam.

Some of the signs that might prompt you to get a hearing test could include:

• Your hearing is muted like there is water in your ears.
• Phone interactions are always hard to hear.
• When you’re talking to people, you repeatedly need to keep asking people to speak up.
• Turning your television or car stereo to extremely high volumes (if your neighbors start complaining, that’s a good indication you need to see a hearing specialist right away).
• Difficulties hearing discussions in loud situations.
• It’s typical for loss of hearing in the high pitched register to go first and because consonants are in a higher pitched register than vowels, they usually go first.

When these warning signs start to accumulate, it’s a good indication that the appropriate time to get a hearing test is right now. You need to know what’s going on with your ears and that means getting a hearing exam as soon as possible.

What Are The Advantages of Hearing Testing?

There are plenty of reasons why Sofia might be late in getting her hearing exam. Denial is a top choice. Maybe thinking about it is something she’s simply avoiding. But there are tangible benefits to getting your hearing checked per recommendations.

Even when your hearing is totally healthy, a hearing exam can help create a baseline reading, which makes variances in the future easier to detect. You can safeguard your hearing better if you detect it before it becomes a problem.

That’s exactly why Sophia has to go to her scheduled hearing appointments before any permanent impairment happens. By catching your hearing loss early, by having your hearing tested when you should, you’ll be keeping your ears healthier longer. Understanding the effects of hearing loss on your total health, that’s essential.