The majority of the time, I don’t have any problems with my hearing. However, I’ve noticed that I have a lot of difficulty understanding when people talk while there’s a lot of other noise going on or when people whisper. I’m in my mid-twenties and have had this problem for the past decade or so.
My question is: Should I worry about this? Should I get a hearing aid? What? The thing is, I’m somehow embarrassed to go to the doctor about it–I mentioned it one year at school when they were doing those annual hearing tests, and they said I was fine.
Talk to your doctor and request he send you to an audiologist for testing. I’d recommend against just going to a hearing aid office - miracle-ear or the like, as they tend to be more in sales than treatment. They will stick a really expensive hearing aid in your ear and pronounce you healed.
Your physician will check to make sure there isn’t a physical blockage or anything along those lines that’s causing a mild hearing loss. After that, the audiologist will run a battery of testing to check your hearing thresholds, and help you determine if/what devices can help you out.
Hearing aids are really really really expensive, and rarely covered by insurance. (I have roughly 10k into my hearing system but I’m also profoundly impaired) - just to warn you. Yours wouldn’t be that bad - but they aren’t cheap.
Aside from that, I don’t have any advice. Definitely go through your doctor/audiologist route, though.
Smashed Ice Cream pretty much covered all the bases. Go to your doctor first and see if he/she knows an audiologist. If the doctor is stumped (which I would be surprised at, especially if the doctor is an ear, nose, and throat specialist), consider tracking an audiologist down at a hospital, for a lot of major hospitals have audiology departments.
And Smashed was right about avoiding Miracle-Ear and Beltone…I would also avoid any other outfit that employs “hearing aid dealers” instead of audiologists. Hearing aid dealers are trained in salesmanship, rather than in hearing loss and its remediation. Avoid them at all costs.
[sub]Full disclosure: I’m an audiologist, but I’m also someone who has worn hearing aids since the age of 18 months and has had his share of encounters with hearing aid dealers, all of whom were grossly incompetent.[/sub]
I will also point out that, to a certain degree, it is normal to have trouble hearing in a noisy environment. The only way to know if you truly have a hearing problem or not is to get your hearing checked.
You mention your last hearing test came out normal - maybe this one will, too - but if it matters that much get it checked out for piece of mind.
And if you do have hearing loss - it’s your choice to either get a hearing aid or put up with it. But if you do get a hearing aid shop carefully - they are expensive and some people are more interested in selling expensive crap than actually helping you.
My experience with pushy sales people and sensory deficits involve “corrective lenses” for vision - but the same principal applies