5 Very Good Reasons To Get a Hearing Test As Soon As Possible

If you can't answer that question right away — or worse, if your answer was "never" — it's time to book an appointment with your audiologist. Particularly as you get older, regular hearing loss tests are critical to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. And as we'll show you today, you really have no reason not to schedule one.

So with that in mind, here are five very good reasons to get a hearing loss test as soon as possible. 

Plenty of people seem to be operating under the mistaken assumption that hearing tests are complex, time-intensive, and/or unpleasant. The reality couldn't be further from the truth. A hearing test generally consists of the following steps. 

• The audiologist will perform a physical examination of your ears, looking for anything that might indicate damage, infection, or other abnormalities. 
• The audiologist has you put on a pair of headphones, at which point they'll test how you hear sound at different volumes, pitches, and frequencies. 

That's it. That's all there is to it. And not only is it quick and easy, but a hearing loss test is also completely free.

Everyone's ears are a little different. We all have a different baseline in terms of how we experience our auditory surroundings. With regular testing, your audiologist can figure out what that baseline is. That way, with further testing, they'll know right away if something is abnormal or amiss. 

And they'll be able to diagnose potential issues that much more effectively—speaking of which. 

One of the most common misconceptions we see about hearing tests is that they're solely about how well you hear. It just so happens, however, that your ears are inextricably linked to the rest of your body in a multitude of ways. Hearing impairment or other issues with the ear can actually be a marker for a huge range of different conditions, such as diabetes. 

Not only that, it's been proven that hearing loss has at least some connection to conditions like Alzheimer's and dementia. And that's not even getting into the fact that adults suffering from moderate to severe hearing loss tend to experience more profound cognitive decline later in life. Finally, hearing problems also correlate with an increased risk of slips, trips, and falls because the ears are associated with balance. 

Most people suffering from mild to moderate hearing loss don't even realize they have it. And by the time their impairment is noticeable to them, it's too late to do much beyond pop in a hearing aid. That's the bad news.

The good news is that like many health conditions, hearing loss is easier to treat the earlier it's discovered. In some cases, an audiologist can even help you prevent the hearing loss from progressing any further. Not only that, as we've already indicated, hearing loss has a profound impact on the brain.

What we mean is that the longer you live with untreated hearing loss, the more difficulty your brain will have adjusting to treatment. 

People who have hearing loss tend to struggle with social situations. For more severe cases, they may even have problems finding and retaining employment, and those that are employed may find it difficult to advance their career. By seeking treatment for possible hearing loss, you can go in the opposite direction. 

You can help yourself be happier, healthier, more social, and more successful. 

There's an old saying — you never truly appreciate what you have until it's gone. Where your hearing is concerned, that certainly holds true. It's easy to forget just how much we rely on our ears — just how much our experience of the world around us is defined by sound — until we're cut off. 

With regular hearing tests, you significantly reduce the risk that you'll have to discover (and content) with that knowledge firsthand.