The Unknowingly Deaf: When Hearing Loss Creeps Up Without You Realising

Hearing loss is often imagined as something sudden, dramatic, or obvious. In reality, for millions of people, it happens slowly and quietly over many years. so quietly that they may not even realise it is happening.

The “unknowingly deaf” are people living with hearing loss without recognising the signs. They may think everyone mumbles these days. 

They may turn the television up louder than everyone else prefers. They may constantly ask people to repeat themselves. 

Some become known as “the loud one” in the family because they speak or shout far louder than necessary without realising it.

In many cases, the problem is gradual hearing deterioration combined with tinnitus, the persistent ringing, buzzing, hissing, or roaring sounds in the ears that only the sufferer can hear.

Tinnitus itself can be exhausting. For some people, it becomes a constant background noise that interferes with conversations and makes it difficult to distinguish speech, particularly in pubs, restaurants, supermarkets, or busy workplaces. 

Over time, the brain adapts in ways that can mask just how much hearing has actually been lost.

One of the biggest warning signs is volume. People with undiagnosed hearing loss often increase the volume of televisions, radios, phones, and even their own voices. Friends and family may notice long before the individual does.

Another common sign is misunderstanding conversations. Someone may answer the wrong question, laugh at the wrong moment, or appear distracted when, in truth, they simply have not heard properly. This can sometimes lead to frustration, embarrassment, social withdrawal, and even anxiety.

The issue is far more common than many realise. Hearing loss is not just an “old person’s problem.” Long-term exposure to loud music, industrial noise, headphones, traffic, machinery, concerts, and even repeated infections can all contribute. Stress and fatigue can also worsen tinnitus symptoms.

Unfortunately, many people delay getting help because hearing loss develops so gradually that it feels normal. Others fear stigma around hearing aids, despite modern devices being smaller, smarter, and more effective than ever before.

The good news is that recognising the problem is the first step. Simple hearing tests can identify early hearing damage, and treatment or hearing support can dramatically improve quality of life. Protecting hearing from further damage is equally important, especially in noisy environments.

If somebody you know constantly shouts, struggles to follow conversations, or keeps asking “What?” there may be more going on than simple distraction. They may genuinely not realise how much hearing they have lost.

Sometimes the people most affected by hearing loss are the last to notice it.

Your GP can organise a referral to the audiology department at your nearest NHS hospital, or you can book an appointment with a private audiologist, or check out the offerings from high street hearing aid centres. Some opticians not only offer hearing aid services they can offer combined spectacles and hearing aids.

The British Academy of Audiologists can be of help https://baaudiology.org 

What to Do If You Think You Have Hearing Loss (or If Your Spouse Thinks You Do)

Hearing loss often creeps up gradually, which means you may not notice the changes right away. 

In fact, it’s often a partner, family member, or friend who first points out that you’re missing parts of conversations or turning up the TV a little too high.

 If you’ve started to wonder whether your hearing isn’t what it used to be—or your spouse has gently suggested the same—here’s what to do next.

Recognise the Signs

Common early signs of hearing loss include:

Struggling to follow conversations in busy places

Asking people to repeat themselves often

Feeling that others are mumbling

Turning the TV or radio up louder than those around you prefer

Finding phone calls more difficult to follow than before

If these sound familiar, it’s worth taking them seriously.

Talk About It Openly

If your spouse or family member has raised concerns, it can feel frustrating or even embarrassing. But remember, their perspective is valuable—they may be noticing things you don’t. 

Have an honest conversation without defensiveness. Hearing difficulties don’t just affect you; they affect those around you too.

Get a Hearing Check

The simplest way forward is to have your hearing tested. In the UK, you can:

See your GP – they may refer you for a hearing test with the NHS.

Book directly with an audiologist – many high street opticians and hearing centres offer free hearing checks.

Use online screening tools – these can give a rough indication, but they’re not a substitute for a professional test.

Don’t Delay

Hearing loss isn’t just about missing a few words. Left untreated, it can affect relationships, social confidence, and even mental health. 

The sooner you take action, the better your quality of life will be. Modern hearing aids are discreet, comfortable, and far more advanced than many people imagine.

Support Each Other

If it’s your spouse who’s struggling with hearing, patience and encouragement go a long way. Avoid nagging or shouting—stay calm, listen to their concerns, and offer to go with them to an appointment. Tackling the issue together can make the process less daunting.

The Bottom Line

Hearing changes are a natural part of life for many of us. Ignoring the signs won’t make them go away, but taking the first step towards a hearing test can open the door to clearer conversations and better connections.

If you think your hearing—or your partner’s—has declined, make that appointment today. It could transform not just your hearing, but your everyday life.

I have to admit that it took me a while to acknowledge that I was suffering from a mild hearing loss. The result of several years working as a technician in a foundry when I was very young. Even though I always wore hearing protectors.

Oticon is First to Embrace the Revolutionary Audible Contrast Threshold (ACT™) Diagnostic Test to Take on the Number One Challenge with Hearing Loss

The combination of the new Audible Contrast Threshold diagnostic test, the Oticon Genie 2 fitting software, and Oticon hearing aids is the first hearing care solution to look beyond the audiogram and support hearing care professionals to provide a genuinely personalised prescription for hearing in noise, leading to better care and improved outcomes for hearing aid users.

Oticon is pleased to announce it will be the first hearing aid company to incorporate the new Audible Contrast Threshold (ACT™) diagnostic test, invented by Interacoustics Research Unit (IRU), into its Oticon Genie 2 fitting software. The move affirms Oticon’s commitment to supporting hearing care professionals to conduct more personalised and effective hearing aid fittings and ensuring better outcomes for hearing aid users.

The problem:

ACT has been developed to address the number one challenge with hearing loss experienced by 1 in 5 of the world’s population: Difficulty hearing speech in background noise. Going beyond the traditional audiogram, the ACT diagnostic test is a significant opportunity for the field of audiology. It will objectively quantify hearing in noise ability for people with or without hearing loss. ACT is a simple, evidence-based method to diagnose hearing in noise difficulties, a well-known challenge for hearing care professionals globally.

The solution:

Thanks to the introduction of ACT, hearing care professionals will have additional diagnostic information to provide a more personalised solution quickly and easily for specific hearing loss and to optimally fit a hearing aid the first time. Through diagnostic integration, the Oticon Genie 2 fitting software will automatically and immediately calculate the optimal amount of help a client needs in noise. 

Based on the language-independent ACT test which takes an average of 2 minutes to conduct, the software auto-generates personalised help-in-noise settings, providing the correct dose of ‘contrast’ to better separate speech from noise, based on a person’s ACT value. The prescription enables hearing care professionals to fully deploy the advanced capabilities of Oticon hearing aids (Oticon Real and onwards) in the most effective way. The integration is expected to be available in the next release of the Genie 2 fitting software in 2024.

Thomas Behrens, Vice President of Audiology, Oticon comments: “At Oticon, we have dedicated decades of research into BrainHearing™, and have demonstrated the considerable effort for hearing aid users to understand speech in complex noise environments. Hearing aids should support a user to tackle this important challenge optimally and with an ACT assessment, hearing care professionals can ensure our advanced hearing aids do that to the best of their ability. Embracing the new ACT diagnostic test, we are challenging the conventions to explore a new way of working with hearing care and improve the benefit of hearing aids for our users from the first fit. ACT redefines how we can compensate for hearing loss, and we are proud to be the first company to make the introduction and make strong contributions to making it a new industry standard.”

Oticon is renowned for its research into hearing aid technology that can support hearing aid users to thrive in complex listening environments. For the 7 years that ACT has been under development, Oticon has been supporting this research initiative, as well as taken the lead in developing an evidence-based prescription of Oticon hearing aids using ACT values. For the past 2 years, Oticon has worked alongside the IRU team and the Eriksholm Research Centre, also under the Demant umbrella, to clinically trial ACT, heading up the biggest clinical study Oticon has ever conducted, spanning several countries around the world. For more details on the trial, visit: https://www.oticon.global/act

EDITOR: As someone who suffers with difficulty with hearing speech in background noise, I'm really pleased to be able to share this wonderful news!

Tinnitus Myths: Sorting out the fact from the fiction

An expert debunks some myths about tinnitus: a condition which adversely affects the daily lives of 300,000 people in the UK.

Tinnitus – noise heard in the ears or the head - is far more common than most people think. During the 1950s a series of experiments put 80 people with normal hearing in a soundproofed room for five minutes; 94 per cent experienced hearing sounds such as humming, buzzing or ringing, although none had previously complained of tinnitus.

Over 60 years later and scientists are still struggling to understand this frustrating condition. No win no fee solicitors Claims Direct can help people who suffer tinnitus as a result of working conditions make a personal injury claim and receive the compensation they need and deserve.

Claims Direct can also help people with rehabilitation and put them in touch with support groups. But in terms of researching tinnitus, it is excellent organisations such as Deafness Research UK which are leading the fight to find out more about treating tinnitus.

Andrew Goodwin, an Outreach Advisor for Deafness Research, offers advice to people who want to know more about their hearing loss and assists people to find out what help exists. He is well aware of the myths surrounding tinnitus – myths which can hinder sufferers’ attempt to get better.

Myth 1: Only old people suffer from tinnitus

Andrew Goodwin: This perception is entirely wrong. You can suffer tinnitus at any age. There is no evidence that certain types of people get it more than any others. Tinnitus seems unrelated to age, gender or race.

Myth 2: If I get tinnitus I will realise it straight away

AG: Frustratingly, there are so many people out there who have Tinnitus and are not aware they have a recognised condition. People will have ringing in their ears and feel that they are the only one who has it as it is so rarely talked about in the media.

Myth 3: I don’t listen to loud music and don’t have a noisy job so I won’t get tinnitus

AG: It is true that one type of tinnitus is caused by exposure to loud noise over time, so occupations such as steelworker or anyone in the nightclub industry is at risk. However, another type of tinnitus seems to be activated by stress, so any stressful job, such as stockbroker, lawyer or teacher, could be a factor in causing tinnitus. At the moment, not enough is known about tinnitus to be able to say with absolute certainty what the causes are. What we do know for certain is that stress and noise are two key factors. The strong link between tinnitus and stress means that most treatments will start with relaxation treatments.

Myth 4: The papers say there is a cure so there is no need to worry

AG: There are NO cures for Tinnitus at the moment. You may have read of pills containing Ginkgo Biloba supposedly being a cure. We have funded research into this and have found, through double-blind testing, (where both the dispensers and the testers don’t know if they have received the Ginkgo Biloba or a placebo) that it has no discernible effect on the tinnitus.

Myth 5: I’ll cut out caffeine and the problem will be sorted!

AG: It used to be thought that reducing the caffeine in your diet would help, but again, proper research has proven that to be false. In fact, if you were to cut out caffeine too drastically, the caffeine withdrawal would make the tinnitus worse! Likewise, other research that has been completed recently has proved that changing your diet will have little impact on the tinnitus.

Myth 6: It is best to just do nothing about the tinnitus as it will probably just go away of its own accord

AG: The vast majority of people leave it and never even talk about it with friends or relations. It is only if it becomes a serious issue, affecting sleep patterns and the ability to communicate, do people then seek help from their doctor. In most cases, tinnitus seems to go away or is sporadic. However, in the cases where people seek help, it rarely goes away; it just becomes more manageable. However, as with any other medical condition, the sooner you seek help the better. We do hear of distressing cases where people have committed suicide because they were unaware of the help that is available.

Myth 7: If you have tinnitus, there is little hope of easing the symptoms

AG: There definitely are a few treatments that can have a positive effect, one is Tinnitus Retraining Therapy. In this instance, a box will be tuned with the sound of the patient’s specific tinnitus and it will be played to them for between five and ten minutes each day. The idea behind this is that the tinnitus excites the fight or flee response in us as it is a sound we cannot identify, so our brain doesn’t know if it is a threat or not. So, by playing this sound on a regular basis, the brain gets used to it and identifies it as an external source, becomes less threatened by it and so pays less attention to it. The tinnitus never goes away but it becomes far more manageable.

‘You’re not alone’

Andrew is keen to reassure tinnitus sufferers that there are positive steps they can take to cope with tinnitus.

He said: “Things have improved enormously over the last few years, thanks mainly to the huge amount of research that Deafness Research UK has funded. Nowadays, most GP’s will know that Tinnitus is not fictional and is a very real, very distressing condition. This is also reassuring as, if you start suffering symptoms associated with tinnitus, you should always visit a GP first. If needed, they can refer to you a Tinnitus Specialist for help.

The most important thing to realise is that there IS help out there. Download our factsheet to find out more, but there are lots of treatments that can help manage the condition. Remember most of all, you are not alone. There are Tinnitus Support groups up and down the country at which you can find out how different people have found ways of coping.”

Author: James Christie
Claims Direct - Advice on tinnitus and accident at work claims.
www.claimsdirect.co.uk

Claims Direct can also help people  with rehabilitation and put them in touch with support groups. But  in terms of researching tinnitus, it is excellent organisations such as Deafness Research UK which are leading the fight to find   out more about treating tinnitus.

Can poor hearing hurt a relationship?

Couples with good hearing are happier according to recent research, supporting the age-old notion that listening is the secret to a successful relationship.

In a Boots hearingcare study of 5,032 British adults who have been treated for hearing loss, one in five say they understand their partner better as a result, 18% claim they talk with their partner more often and 9% feel they argue less. Overall, more than a third (36%) believe that addressing their hearing loss has significantly improved their relationship with their partner – findings that have implications for millions of couples across the UK, particularly as research shows people with hearing loss wait 10 to 15 years on average before taking action.

It’s not just the relationship with the partner that appears to benefit from better hearing, with 36% claiming to be more sociable, almost a third (29%) more confident and 21% more talkative. While 89% say they were aware of their hearing loss, 43% did not realise the impact it was having on their loved ones. For almost half (43%) it was their partner that actually persuaded them to take action and 63% wish they had taken action earlier.

The research findings are released to launch Boots’ ‘Great Big Hearing Test’ campaign, which aims to make hearing tests more accessible, encouraging earlier diagnosis and treatment. The campaign will see Boots hearingcare making FREE, quick and easy to complete hearing tests available online - www.greatbighearingtest.com - and in its high-street stores, as well as providing support and advice to partners, families and friends of people with hearing loss.

Professor Adrian Davis OBE, from the Hearing and Communication Group at the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust, says: “I welcome this research as it shows the everyday benefits of hearing healthcare. Around the country there are the familiar cries of “I’m sure you HAVE got selective hearing” or “I have to repeat everything at least three times before you take any notice! ” which reverberate around households.

“Many people don’t realise that very often a hearing issue is at the root of these cries for help! People with hearing problems often become isolated and relationships end up in silence, because they adapt to hearing loss over time and don’t realise the impact it is having. This research demonstrates the positive impact of addressing hearing difficulties, how a simple check can be the first step to better hearing and communication with loved ones and an improvement in quality of family relationships.”

Hearing loss is increasing in prevalence, currently affecting nine million people in the UK including 42% of people over the age of 50 and 71% of people over 70. People often put up with hearing loss for many years before seeking treatment and statistics show that as many as two thirds of people with hearing loss have not taken action to address it. This means approximately six million people could stand to improve the relationship with their partner.

Boots hearingcare audiologist and customer care manager Karen Shepherd says: “We want to encourage people to recognise hearing loss at an earlier stage and not just ‘put up with’ hearing difficulties. Not only will this help avoid some of the problems associated with untreated hearing loss, including social withdrawal, it will also enable a more positive outcome as the longer you put off action, the harder it is to adjust.

“In some respects, it’s a case of use it or lose – the less out of practice your hearing nerves are, the easier it is to tune them back in to the hugely complicated signals we process without realising."

It’s not just relationships with partners that better hearing can improve – 30% now enjoy a better relationship with their children and 27% have experienced an improvement in their relationship with their grandchildren and wider circle of friends. In addition, 60% of those below 56 years of age have noticed an improvement in their relationship with their work colleagues, while 44% of this group found that better hearing has improved their performance at work.

The ‘Great Big Hearing Test’ campaign from Boots will:

• Make hearing checks more accessible than ever before, including the launch of an online hearing test (that takes 3 minutes to complete) and the availability of FREE hearing checks (that take 15 minutes to complete) on the high street via over 300 Boots stores
• Engage family members and partners of people with hearing loss to help them address the issue in a positive way
• Communicate the positive impact of better hearing through an education and awareness campaign
• See Boots staff being trained to recognise the signs of hearing loss so they can provide advice and, in some stores, hearing checks using hand-held devices
• Involve Boots working with healthcare professionals to ensure they are up-to-date with the latest information about hearing loss treatment

Nine out of ten people admit they used excuses because of their hearing difficulties before they took action to address it – 55% have told people they were talking too quietly, half have blamed distracting background noise and 38% have accused people of mumbling. In addition, 39% admit they used to bluff their way through conversations.

Relationship psychologist Dr Glenn Wilson says: “Our ability to communicate is central to our happiness and never more so than with our partner and loved ones. New research even suggested that good conversation and quality relationships can have a bigger impact on health than exercise and diet. Difficulties with communication can cause conflict in relationships, but also leave sufferers feeling isolated and withdrawn. This study reiterates the positive impact of regular communication within couples and the importance of people feeling their partner is listening.”

Visit www.greatbighearingtest.com for more information.

(EDITOR: I think this is something I'll have to address in my own life!)

Study shows 6 million people in Britain have problems with hearing

A new study of 15,000 people in the UK shows that 6 million of us suffer from some form of hearing loss. And 3.4 million don't use a hearing aid - but could benefit greatly from doing so. Untreated hearing impairment can have serious consequences including isolation, withdrawal, problems at work, depression and low self-esteem.

The study - Eurotrak UK - is the most comprehensive survey undertaken in this field. People answered questions not only about their personal hearing, but also about their attitudes to and knowledge about hearing aids.

It also found the UK has the lowest rate of hearing tests in Europe. The message from this must be to get your hearing tested – and these days you can do this over the phone, online and even via an App – says The British Hearing Aid Manufacturers Association (BHAMA) publishers of the report. Other key findings include:-

- UK has the lowest hearing test rate (31% UK, 47% France, 55% Germany)
- 39% of people who consult their doctor about their hearing do not go any further to seek a solution
- 93% of hearing aid owners use them regularly
- 77% (82% of those with recent models supplied since 2007) of hearing aid users are satisfied with their instrument

Professor Adrian Davis, National Director for Newborn Hearing Screening Programme, and the leading epidemiologist of hearing impairment in the UK commented: “Probably over 3.4 million people in the UK need hearing aids and do not have them according to EuroTrak UK – similar to a figure estimated by the MRC studies and RNID.

"This represents a massive challenge to everyone involved with hearing healthcare, hearing aids and their dispensing. The negative impact on the lives of the undiagnosed hearing impaired cannot be underestimated.”

Lawrence Werth, BHAMA Chairman added: “It is imperative that we get our hearing tested regularly. If hearing loss is detected then a hearing aid can help. They have improved dramatically over the last five years – a fact confirmed by EuroTrak UK - and provide real benefits for the hearing impaired.”

Where can you get your hearing tested? You can be referred for an NHS hearing test by your doctor. Alternatively, visit a private hearing aid dispenser (many offer free tests but some may charge), complete a hearing test online (eg: www.hear-it.org, www.rnid.org.uk ) ring the RNID’s Hearing Check phoneline on 0844 800 3838 (calls from a BT landline cost up to 5p per minute. Other providers' charges may vary. Call set up charge may apply) or download the RNID Hearing Check App.

The EuroTrak UK study was conducted in 2010. The sample size was nearly 15,000 strong.