Ears and Hearing

Introduction

Hearing is important because it helps us stay connected to the people we care about and the things we enjoy.

Noticing a change in your hearing can feel worrying. Hearing changes can happen for many reasons, and it’s important to pay attention to them early.

This section shares useful information about hearing care, including signs to look out for and ways to get support.

If something doesn’t feel right, talk to a doctor or book a hearing test. A hearing check is simple and can help you understand what’s happening and what to do next.

Symptoms

Changes in your hearing can include symptoms such as:

• Ringing in your ears, especially after being around loud noises for a long period of time.
• Finding sounds you used to hear easily being harder to hear.
• Having to turn up the volume to hear things.
• Asking people to repeat what they’ve said a few times because you’ve not heard them.

Try this quiz to see if your normal lifestyle is impacting your hearing.

If you’ve noticed any of these signs, it’s a good idea to book a hearing test.

To learn more about hearing and the things that impact hearing, visit the Know Your Noise website.

Hearing tests

A hearing test called Audiometry is used to determine the softest sound a person can hear across different pitches. In a test, you’ll be asked to listen to different sounds through headphones and respond when you hear them.

A hearing test is most often performed by an audiologist. Audiologists are specially trained to evaluate, treat and manage a hearing loss.

If a hearing problem is identified, treatment options can be put in place to improve quality of life.

You can find an audiologist by selecting ‘audiology’ on the Health Direct Service Finder.

You can take an online screening hearing test here or book into your nearest hearing service.

The Australian Government has a program that can provide free hearing service to eligible young people up to the age of 26. See the Department of Health website for more info.