Good people of Australia, lend me your ears! Actually, lend me your eyes, unless you have a personal assistant that reads internet articles for you. OK, jokes aside, hearing is a serious matter. It goes without saying that hearing is one of our primary senses. However, when most people are asked which is their most important sense, they usually say it’s their eyesight. But is that really true? Although it is a partially subjective matter, let’s have a close look of the importance of hearing.
Hearing enables us to communicate, socialize, work, but it also connects us to the outside world and it warns us of any potential danger. Many people take hearing for granted and find it difficult to appreciate it since it is a part of their everyday life and it is really hard to compare what it would be like without our sense of hearing. But just imagine a world without a child laughing, chatting with a friend, birds singing, the wind whooshing through leaves, your favourite song, and all the other sounds that are part of the symphony called life. Hearing loss can bring upon a person many disadvantages, relationship problems, social isolation, and even depression. It can also be devastating for children since the development of speech and language is directly linked to hearing.
This is why, unless you have a superhuman hearing sense, it is important to conduct regular hearing tests. Audiometric tests, or commonly known as hearing tests, are accurate and painless. They are done in order to evaluate a person’s hearing ability. Basically, the test works by measuring the ability of sound to reach a person’s hearing center in the brain. A hearing test will also determine how serious a hearing problem is and what could be causing it.
Here are some of the main reasons why regular hearing tests are important.
- First of all, all infants must undergo an audiometric test. As I said before, hearing problems can have a negative effect on a child’s life and impair their ability to understand, learn, and speak a language.
- People that are often exposed to loud noises, whether it is at work or during different kinds of recreational activities such as sports events or concerts must also undergo regular testing.
- If you are having trouble understanding words in a conversation or trouble hearing in one or both of your ears, you must immediately visit a professional audiologist
- Older people are a group that is particularly prone to hearing problems because of the normal damage that occurs during the course of their lives.
Overall, with regular hearing tests, your audiologist may help you prevent a certain problem which is always much easier than dealing with it after it occurs.
