Who Can I Turn to for Help with My Hearing Loss?

When you or a family member are dealing with hearing loss, you may not know where you should turn or how you should deal with it. It’s easy to feel like you can’t turn anywhere, and you have to deal with the problem in silence; it’s how those with hearing loss often feel isolated. However, several different types of professionals can help you with your hearing loss, and each of them has a different way of handling your hearing issue.

Your health really does matter, and you should include your hearing in that. When you notice that something is wrong, you need to get the best possible advice so that you can deal with it properly. Every single expert you turn to will have a different way of handling your hearing problems.

You may want to turn to family and friends first, but they aren't the right people to help you with an ongoing issue with hearing loss. Hearing declining can leave you feeling isolated, and it’s this that can make you sit up and take notice of the damage that you are dealing with. There’s every chance that your family or friends may make you take notice first, and that’s where you need to get some help.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at who you can turn to for help with your hearing loss:

Your primary care provider

Most people head to their direct primary care doctor when they initially suspect hearing loss. Most of the time, hearing loss is down to a build-up of earwax or an injury in sports. It’s the primary care provider who can take a look and refer you to an otolaryngologist or an audiologist to look at your ears. They can then give you more specific tests or hearing treatment that can help you to get better or manage the problem going forward. Your primary care provider can help you with those first steps that you really need to get you started on your journey to hearing well once more.

An otolaryngologist

Once you’ve spoken to your primary care physician, they may not see anything outwardly wrong with your ears and decide to go a little further. This is where they will refer you to an otolaryngologist. They are the experts who will treat the ear, nose and throat, and they will be able to talk you through any medical issues that are affecting your hearing. These can usually be solved and reversed, and if nothing works there, they’ll refer you to another specialist. An audiologist is the next step if no illness or condition will be fixed to fix your hearing. An audiologist will be the person to assess your hearing in more depth.

The audiologist

As we mentioned, an audiologist is going to be the person to speak to with regard to assessing and testing your hearing. They will be able to use the right tools to test your hearing frequencies. They will then use these results to decide on fitting you with a hearing aid. An audiologist is able to fit and dispense hearing aids, and they will talk you through hearing aid maintenance and changing the battery. Your audiologist will work with you in great detail to ensure that you are able to adapt to the hearing loss and your new hearing aids. They can even talk you through the digital options available for you today. There is a range of hearing aids today that will do so much more than help you just to hear. If your audiologist is going to fit you with a hearing aid, they will have several appointments with you to fit them and ensure that you are comfortable.

Hearing aids are intricate devices, and your audiologist will be able to talk you through how to manage yours.

Getting the right help

Hearing loss is not always easy to deal with, but with the right expert at your side, you’re going to be able to figure out the cause behind your hearing loss and get the best possible help. If you need hearing aids, you should speak to the right professional and start lining up some appointments to help you to understand what it all means. You can learn more about Audiology and Hearing Aid Services call at 912-351-3038. Call today to book an appointment, and you can get started on the help that you need for your hearing issues.