Noticing signs of hearing loss can feel confusing or worrying. Changes in everyday conversations, listening in crowds, or the volume you prefer can leave you wondering what to do next. This guide explores five common concerns and helps you prepare to discuss them with your audiologist. You can also read about symptoms of hearing loss from Mayo Clinic.
Medically reviewed by Erin Rushing, Au.D. — Owner & Audiologist in Houma, LA
Last updated: October 2026
Learn more about signs of hearing loss below.
Ringing or buzzing in the ears is called tinnitus (pronounced TIN-nuh-tus or tin-EYE-tus). Tinnitus is often a symptom of hearing loss but can be a sign of a more significant problem.
There are two theories regarding the cause of hearing loss-related tinnitus. Both involve damage to the nerve endings responsible for hearing. One is that the nerve endings in the cochlea are damaged and bent all the time, continually sending a signal to the brain. The other theory is that the brain is no longer receiving stimuli from the damaged nerve endings and is looking for them. This idea is similar to phantom limb pain.
If you’re experiencing tinnitus, it’s a good idea to have your hearing tested. Amplification can help manage hearing loss-related tinnitus. Stimulating your healthy nerve endings masks the sounds caused by your damaged nerve endings.
An asymmetrical hearing loss is a hearing loss in one ear or worse in one ear than the other. While it’s typical to have hearing loss as we age, it’s not good to have a difference between your ears. Both of your ears have been the same places and done the same things, so they should be the same!
A difference between your ears can cause unique hearing problems. You can have trouble knowing which direction sounds are coming from, have difficulty hearing in noisy places, and feel unbalanced.
You can have a difference between your ears for a variety of reasons. Viral infections, nerve pathologies, trauma (acoustic or physical), middle ear dysfunction, or outer ear blockages can all cause hearing differences between your ears.
There are medical treatments that can help. Obstruction removal, medication, or surgery may improve hearing. Viral infections left untreated can cause permanent hearing damage. While these treatments may not completely restore hearing, they can make it better.
If you notice these signs of hearing loss, including a difference between your ears, learn about our comprehensive hearing evaluations in Houma. We’ll discuss your concerns, assess your hearing, and guide you on your next steps.
It takes a lot of focus and attention to listen in an environment with competing sound sources. People with normal hearing can use the context of the conversation to fill in most speech that was missed. When the hearing system is compromised, understanding speech in noisy environments is more difficult. Significant amounts of auditory information are missed or misheard and more listening effort is required. This makes the task of hearing in background noise exponentially more difficult, leading to occasionally or completely avoiding interactions in these environments.
We take each person’s attitude towards noisy environments into consideration. Some of us are more tolerant of noisy environments and will allocate more mental resources to listening in challenging environments. At our office we employ multiple tests with background noise to assess your ability to hear speech in noise, and your preferences and tolerance of background noise.
Turning up the TV too loud is one of the familiar signs of hearing loss. As the cochlea is damaged, higher frequency nerve endings deteriorate first, causing difficulty hearing speech. Consonants are often high frequency sounds and carry the intent and meaning of speech. When someone can’t hear TV dialogue, they compensate for their hearing loss by turning the television louder. They are attempting to amplify the sound from the TV beyond their hearing loss. This is a technique that works well if you live alone, but often family and friends are bothered by the increased volume!
Assistive listening devices (ALDs), such as TV headsets or personal speakers can provide that amplification as well. The TV volume increases and the ALDs are non-customized and will amplify all frequencies. Hearing aids are customized to selectively amplify the frequencies where there is hearing loss and prescriptively apply the amount of amplification needed.
When speech sounds are difficult to hear, your brain has to work harder to follow the conversation and fill in the missing sounds. This extra listening effort can leave you mentally exhausted after social gatherings, meetings, or long conversations, especially in background noise. You may find yourself needing quiet time to recover, even when you enjoyed spending time with others. If this sounds familiar, mention it during a comprehensive hearing evaluation so we can explore whether hearing difficulty is contributing to your fatigue.
Hearing loss that affects only one ear (asymmetrical hearing loss) is not a normal part of aging. Because both ears have been exposed to the same environments, a difference between your ears can point to an outer ear blockage, middle ear dysfunction, viral infection, or nerve pathology that should be evaluated promptly by an audiologist.
Yes. Ringing or buzzing in the ears is frequently linked to damage in the microscopic nerve endings of the inner ear (cochlea). A comprehensive hearing evaluation can determine if your tinnitus is associated with hearing loss and whether targeted amplification can help mask the ringing.
High-frequency nerve endings in the inner ear typically deteriorate first, making it harder to hear soft consonant sounds that carry the meaning of speech. In crowded environments with background noise, your brain has to work much harder to fill in those missing speech sounds.
