Am I Too Young to Have Hearing Loss?
If you’re reading this, you may have noticed struggles hearing your family and friends at get-togethers, or perhaps you’ve been turning the TV up loud to hear it properly. But there’s no way you have hearing loss—that’s for the older generations, as far as you know. To answer your question of “Am I too young to have a hearing loss?”, the answer is no—and there’s no shame in realizing you need a boost in your hearing. Nobody is too old or too young to experience hearing loss.
How Did I Get Hearing Loss?
According to a CDC National Health Survey from 2014, approximately 15 percent of all American adults over the age of 18 experience some trouble hearing. Hearing loss can be caused by genetic predisposition, age, noise exposure, and pre-existing medical conditions. Age plays a large role in hearing loss as we get older, but for many younger people, hearing loss happens much sooner. Genetics can be involved in hearing loss causation; if one of your immediate relatives has hearing loss, like your parents or grandparents, you’re more likely to have some degree of hearing loss too. 50-60 percent of hearing loss in babies is genetic, as well.
Sometimes, external factors like infections or diseases can lead to hearing loss. This is more common in small children and babies as their immune systems build with their age. However, the second most common form of hearing loss after presbycusis (age-related hearing loss), is noise-induced hearing loss, caused by exposure to loud noise over prolonged time periods. Especially now that young people are using their headphones and personal devices, turning up the volume for loud music… Of course, there’s no shame in hearing loss. In fact, we see it as a positive: it means that you’ve been living a loud and exciting life, filled with live performances, busy environments, and lots of fun. It’s not a sign of age—it’s a sign that you’ve lived!
How Regular Hearing Assessments Can Help
Hearing loss is remarkably easy to treat with the help of comprehensive hearing assessments. No matter your questions or concerns, our team at Holland Hearing is here to help you with every step of your hearing health journey. The quicker we can identify what’s happening in your ears, the sooner we can offer next steps for helping you solve your hearing loss challenge. If you have any questions about hearing care or how we can help you, please feel free to request a callback—a member of our team will get in touch with you with more information. Don’t want to wait? Call our office at (325) 437-4730.
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