Dear Readers,
Once again Toronto Family Hearing was at the Roncesvalles Polish Festival in 2015. This was our second year at the festival and it was even better than last year. I had the opportunity to meet and discuss hearing health with people from the neighbourhood and across the city. I met some new faces and existing patients who just stopped by to say hello.
There were two questions I seemed to get asked most often: “do I need a doctor’s referral to get a hearing test?” and “when should I get my hearing tested?”.
The first question was easy because you never need a doctor’s referral to get your hearing checked. Taking care of your hearing health is like taking care of your teeth and your eyes — you decide when and where to go. Your doctor may encourage you to get your hearing checked, but they don’t need to write you a referral. And even if they do, you can go whenever and wherever you like. You are in the driver’s seat when it comes to your hearing health.
The second question is a bit more tricky. I always recommend that people get their hearing tested routinely throughout life, again, just as you would have your eyes and teeth checked. Unfortunately, many people neglect their hearing health for decades because they think they are hearing fine — it is very unlikely you will notice a gradual decline in your hearing. While a sudden hearing loss is more obvious and easily detectable, this is not typical. In such cases, most people know immediately that something is wrong. In order to address gradual hearing loss, I encourage people to have their hearing tested at major life milestones, such as beginning grade school, entering university, retirement, turning 65, etc. This ensures that any changes in your hearing are identified as soon as possible, and provides a medical history of your hearing health in the event there are problems in the future.
See you again next year!
Mahsa
