Facts About Hearing Loss

More than half of the people with hearing loss are younger than age 65.

Untreated hearing loss can affect your ability to understand speech and can negatively
impact your social and emotional well-being—hearing impairment can decrease your
quality of life!

Hearing loss is the third most common health problem in the United States.
Signs you may have a hearing loss:
• Difficulty hearing people talk in noisy environments such as a restaurant, shopping
mall, in a car, or at the movie theater.
• People seem to “mumble” all the time.
• Family, friends, or colleagues often have to repeat themselves when speaking with
you.
• You have trouble hearing people when they are not facing you or are in another
room.
• You have trouble following conversations.
• You have ringing, buzzing, or hissing sounds in your ears.

What causes hearing loss?
• Exposure to excessive loud noise.
• Ear infections, trauma, or ear disease.
• Harm of the inner ear and ear drum from contact with a foreign object (cotton
swabs, fingers, bugs).
• Illness or certain medications.
• Deteriorating hearing due to the normal aging process.

How to protect your hearing:
• Wear hearing protection when around sounds louder than 85dB for a long period of time.
There are different types of hearing protection such as foam earplugs, earmuffs and custom
hearing protection devices. Contact your local audiologist for custom hearing protection
devices.
• Turn down the volume when listening to the radio, the TV, MP3 player, or anything through
ear buds and headphones. (Visit www.TurnItToTheLeft.com)
• Walk away from the noise.
• And, other than hearing protection, do not put anything in your ear!

If you think you, a friend or family member may have hearing loss call The Hearing Group at: 973-243-8860 to schedule an appointment to have your hearing tested.