How Often Do You Need a Hearing Test?

We rely a great deal on our senses to help us navigate life, and the total or partial loss of any of those senses is something that we will naturally want to avoid. Perhaps the two most important are our sight and hearing and for anyone who is experiencing short-sightedness or any such vision issue, regular eye tests at least once every two years are recommended. Do you know how often you should visit a hearing health professional to have your ears checked?

When Should You Get a Hearing Test?

The chances are that you haven’t, ever, visited a hearing care provider because you haven’t perceived there to be any issues with your hearing. That’s entirely reasonable, although they recommend that healthy adults should get their hearing checked once every ten years. If you’ve recently felt that you aren’t hearing the TV or radio as well as you used to or if you find it difficult to follow a conversation in a moderately busy area like a restaurant, then it is also wise to get your ears checked out and see if you need any assistance.

How Often Should You Get a Hearing Test?

To a large extent, the regularity of your hearing tests depends on a few things. One of them is the quality of your hearing right now. If you are experiencing some hearing loss, or think you might be, then it’s a good idea to have your hearing checked as soon as possible. From that point on, you should attend appointments on a regular basis as dictated by your hearing care provider. This is the case up until the age of 60, at which point it becomes advisable to have more regular appointments whether you are experiencing hearing loss or not.

Experts advise that people over the age of 60 attend for hearing tests once a year, as age is one of the major factors in making hearing loss more likely. Hearing loss is often driven by the loss of hairs in the ear canal which are designed to transmit sound further into the ear. These hairs can break off due to prolonged exposure to loud noise, or simply due to the passage of time.

Equally, it is wise to go for hearing tests more often if you do a job that exposes you more regularly than normal to loud noise. If you work at a concert venue, for example or operate heavy machinery, then the chance of hearing loss is increased, and the importance of checking for it becomes more acute.

The important points to remember are that: a hearing health professional will be best place to advise you on when you should next return, if you are experiencing hearing loss, visits should be more regular and if you are in a category where hair loss is more common, you should have hearing tests more often.