A Self-Check for your hearing and your ears

• Do you experience ringing noises in your ears?

• Do you hear better with one ear than with the other?

• Have any of your relatives (by birth) had a hearing loss?

• Have you had any significant noise exposure at work, recreation, or in military service?

• Do you find it difficult to follow a conversation in a noisy restaurant or a crowded room?

• Do you sometimes feel that people are mumbling or not speaking clearly?

• Do you experience difficulty following dialog in the theater?

• Do you sometimes find it difficult to understand a speaker at a public meeting or a religious service?

• Do you find yourself asking people to speak up or repeat themselves?

• Do you find men's voices easier to understand than women's?

• Do you experience difficulty understanding soft or whispered speech?

• Do you sometimes have difficulty understanding speech on the telephone?

• Does a hearing problem because you to feel embarrassed when meeting new people?

• Do you feel handicapped by a hearing problem?

• Does a hearing problem cause you to be nervous?

• Does a hearing problem cause you to visit friends, relatives, or neighbors less often than you would like?

• Does a hearing problem cause you to feel depressed?

Yes answers to any of these questions may mean that you have a hearing problem. Yes answers to several questions strongly suggest that a hearing check is necessary.