Pardon me? what did you say? If you often ask clients and colleagues to repeat themselves because you didn’t catch what they were saying, it may be time to have your hearing checked.

“The annoyance felt by clients who have to repeat themselves translates into potentially lost business,” says Markus Hilbert, an audiologist and managing director of Chinook Hearing Clinics in Calgary.

Not being able to hear what people are saying is not only bad for your bottom line but it can also spiral into a litany of other health complaints.

“When your ability to hear declines, your ability to communicate also degrades,” says M.J. DeSousa, vice president and chief audiologist at Toronto-based Lis-tenUP! Canada. “This often leads to withdrawal, isolation, depression, stress and poor job performance. It can have a significant detrimental effect on quality of life and earning potential.”

How can you tell if you are suffering from hearing problems?

Signs of hearing loss, Hilbert and DeSousa say, are well documented. They include: asking others to repeat themselves; thinking that people are mumbling; inability to hear high-frequency sounds such as the turn signal in your car, the timer on the stove or a bird chirping; turning up the TV to levels too loud for others; ringing in your ears; and social withdrawal.

Hearing loss occurs so gradually that you may not recognize what is happening. On average, people live seven years with the problem before seeking treatment.

Because the world around us is getting louder, more people suffer from noise-induced hearing loss at a younger age. According to the Hearing Foundation of Canada, a much larger percentage of hearing loss is caused by overexposure to noise (34%) than illness or injury (17%). In fact, a study in the U.S. found that about 13% of school-age children showed signs of noise damage. With each passing decade, the incidence of hearing loss increases.

“Whereas hearing loss used to be generally a problem for seniors, more middle-aged people are now facing hearing loss because of the increase in audition in our lives, including city noise, noise pollution, recreational noise and the phenomenon of being ‘plugged in’ with communication devices,” says Hilbert. He estimates as many as half of Canadians over age 50 suffer from some hearing loss.

The Canadian marketplace has responded with an increasing number of centres to treat hearing loss, such as ListenUP! Canada and Chinook Hearing Clinics. “The growth potential is multifold,” says Hilbert. “Not only are the boomers soon going to hit 65, but there’s also a younger population behind them developing hearing loss that affects their social and occupational enjoyment and success.”

He adds that 90% of people with hearing loss don’t wear amplification devices. “The No. 1 myth is that the longer they put off getting amp-lification, the better. This is wrong,” says Hilbert. “The sooner you get amplification after developing a loss, the better.”

What finally spurs people to seek treatment is difficulty in their professional life. “Common concerns include difficulty participating in meetings, feelings of embarrassment because of misinterpretation, fear of making mistakes and loss of confidence,” DeSousa says.

“Hearing aids have changed significantly in the past decade in both appearance and technology,” Hilbert says. “They are now digital, allowing improved sound quality and greater flexibility for custom fittings.”

He predicts that one day hearing aids will incorporate boomers’ other listening needs. “Soon we’ll see the convergence of technology between recreational technology such as MP3 players and hearing aids, or Bluetooth phones and hearing aids.” IE