Hearing loss in 45 yr old woman?

[PurpleEdith]

I did an over-the-phone hearing test which said I might have some hearing loss. I've been worried about my hearing for about 2 or 3 years...following conversation in a group of people is hard and I have to be really close to someone to hear them, in a social situation. I did mention it to a GP a while ago...he held his watch to my ear and said can you hear it ticking? I said I could, and he said 'well you are fine then'. I'm 45, would I be losing my hearing already? Feel a bit of a chump going to the GP about this.

I'm 39 and have had gradually declining hearing over the last 10 years or so. You sound similar to me- softly spoken people in large echoey rooms over 1 metre away not facing me... I'll miss over half of that!

I'm in Austria (so may not fully apply) but I didn't go near a GP, just straight to a hearing specialist for a full test. I have otosclerosis and it seems one of the bones in my middle ear doesn't move enough to transmit sound but the underlying inner ear hearing (basal hearing level, tested not with headphones but with it sort of clamped on your skull, is more normal). I'm having surgery (stapedectomy) in June that will replace the last bone with a piston and, hopefully, I'll get back to my underlying basal level of hearing. Not like a bat, but I'm hoping at least not like a 90 year old!

Wish I'd gone for the tests ages ago, I was assuming the only options would be hearing aids, that probably wouldn't work all that well based off elderly grans experience and friends with more serious hearing loss as children. Go and get your exact situation checked out, it may well not need to be this way.

Thanks for replying. I'll get it checked out!

I have hearing loss and was diagnosed when I was 40. I can be in a crowded pub and someone next to me is talking but I cannot hear what they are saying. However I can hear the background chat. With softly spoken people I have difficulty hearing when they are in front of me but I can be upstairs in my house and hear the oven timer going off downstairs! There are different types of situations where I cannot hear fully and holding a watch to your ear is not an indication of diagnosing hearing loss. You need a proper audiology referral to the hospital. Just to be warned, the soundproofed room they use during the test is a bit surreal.