Why You Need An Annual Hearing Test
You have your eyes checked once a year. You have your teeth checked maybe twice a year. You have your skin checks, breast checks, heart and lung scans, colonoscopy, and I could go on. While the CDC has this year begun recommending a yearly hearing test, most primary care physicians's do not screen in their office or make the recommendation to their patients to do so. Part of the reason an annual hearing test is so important is how prevalent hearing loss is. For instance, 20 percent of Americans right off the bat have some degree of hearing loss. At the age of 65 that increases to 1 out of 3 people. Other factors as well may influence this. Statistics show that more than 50% of the 29 million people diagnosed with diabetes suffer from significant hear loss. This just goes to show that many other influencing factors may affect hearing as well. Another reason for an annual hearing exam is that your ears can be the window to other issues in your body. We check the health of your eardrum, look at acoustic reflexes in response to different sound frequencies and verify that your hearing is symmetrical. We address symptoms like vertigo and tinnitus, that should not be ignored. Some combinations of symptoms and types of hearing loss can alert us to a greater issue in your body, such as an acoustic neuroma (a low-growing tumor that develops on the nerve leading from your inner ear to your brain). Needless to say, if you haven't had your hearing tested in over a year, come see us at Peachtree Hearing for an annual exam.
