Each year in May, audiologists around the world join together to educate the public about hearing loss and encourage people to seek help for communication challenges.
Hearing loss can be present at birth, happen instantly, or, most commonly, develop over time from excessive noise exposure, aging, or a combination. In 2026, approximately 15% of Americans (over 40 million people) report some level of difficulty hearing. This rate increases to 65% among those who are 71 and older.
Even if signs of hearing loss seem minor, it’s important to get a professional hearing evaluation. Seeing an audiologist doesn’t automatically mean that you need or even be recommended hearing aids but it can provide you with answers about your difficulties and the audiologist can discuss with you the options available to you if deemed appropriate.
Here are 5 early signs of hearing loss that will help you or family members know it may be time to see an audiologist for an evaluation.
- It’s getting harder to hear conversation at your table when in restaurants.
- You have trouble hearing people with higher pitched voices such as women, children, and speech on television.
- You begin to experience any sort of noise in the ears only you can hear such as ringing, buzzing, humming, chirping, static etc.
- You begin to notice unexplained imbalance or dizziness.
- Needing to increase the volume on the phone/television, and others are speaking up for you to hear them.
Individuals with untreated hearing loss may become isolated from their families and communities. In older adults, untreated hearing loss is also associated with higher total health care costs, increased risk of dementia and cognitive decline, falls, depression, and lower quality of life. Hearing aids have proven to help people with hearing problems reconnect to others, improve quality of life, and decrease the chance of cognitive decline.