How Often Should You Get Hearing Health Examinations?
There are various health examinations you’ll need to get in life, and almost all of them require regular checkups. Most people know that they should undergo a physical health examination once every so often, especially when they reach a certain age. As for dental health checks, you should visit your dentist annually – if not more frequently.
But what about hearing health examinations?
Hardly anyone knows how often they should go for a hearing test, so what sort of frequency should you be looking at? Well, the reason it’s tricky to know this is that it all depends on your age and hearing health circumstances.
Adults & Children With No Symptoms
Let’s say you have absolutely no symptoms or signs of hearing loss at all – how often should you book in for a test? In this scenario, it comes down to your age:
- Children: Newborns will have a hearing test at birth, but then symptomless children will only really need one more, usually before they go to school.
- Adults aged 18-40: A pretty massive age range here, but most adults within this group can get away with one hearing test every 10 years. Get one when you’re twenty, then another as you turn thirty, and one more when you turn 40, before things get more frequent.
- Adults aged 40-60: During these two decades, your hearing health starts to decline, and the need for hearing tests becomes prominent. Things can change a lot quicker than before, so increase your frequency to once every 3 to 5 years.
Adults Aged 60 & Over
People within this category deserve a section on their own because reaching your sixties means you’re going to start seeing a decline in your hearing health. It doesn’t have to be rapid, but the natural ageing process means you might experience hearing loss in some capacity. The sooner you catch onto this, the sooner you can find treatments or solutions like hearing aids to help out.
With that in mind, this is when you should book annual hearing tests. Start treating it like a dental examination because there’s a strong chance things can change within a few months.
People Who Live In Loud Environments
Do you work in a very noisy place? If your daily routine forces you to wear ear defenders or be around extremely loud equipment, then you should seek more frequent hearing tests – even as a healthy adult. You’re more at risk of damaging your ears or suffering from hearing loss, so it is worth getting checked once every year. After all, you spend multiple hours a day in loud environments, so it’s not worth the risk.
One final thing to add is that you should always get tested if you identify any symptoms of hearing loss or tinnitus. This includes difficulty hearing people, a constant ringing in your ears, pain in your eardrums, balance issues and so on. It doesn’t matter how young you are or when you last went for a hearing health examination; if the symptoms appear and persist, you need a checkup.
Hopefully, this tells you all you need to know about hearing health examinations and how often you need to get them. Look after your hearing health and you will go through life with one less struggle.
