People with hearing impairment experience different types of hearing loss and different symptoms of hearing impairment. One of the symptoms of deafness is a loss of ability to hear clearly or not being able to hear certain sounds or a range of frequencies of sounds. Total deafness is not common. Most people with hearing loss retain some ability to hear.

The degree of hearing loss is often referred to as the severity of the hearing loss. The hearing loss may be mild and cause muffling of sound. Mild hearing loss can be problematic in environments with background noise. Such hearing loss is common in people of advanced age. More severe hearing loss can greatly impair someone’s ability to hear.

Hearing loss can affect one ear or both ears. Hearing loss that affects one ear is called unilateral hearing loss. Symptoms of unilateral hearing loss include an inability to hear sounds on that side and difficulty identifying the source of sound. Hearing loss of both ears is called bilateral hearing loss.

Other symptoms of deafness can include dizziness, called vertigo, and tinnitus. The condition of tinnitus is characterized by hearing sounds that are not in the person’s environment. The person may hear a ringing in the ears or a repetitive noise or tone. A wide variety of sounds are reported by people with tinnitus.

There are emotional symptoms of hearing impairment. People with hearing loss may be irritable due to frustration of not being able to hear clearly. They may become isolated and tire of social interaction due to not being able to understand conversations and aggravation over having to ask people to repeat themselves. Social isolation is considered a common symptom of hearing impairment in children who may feel different from children who can hear normally.

Depression is sometimes reported as a symptom of deafness. This can be especially true if the person can no longer enjoy auditory activities that they once enjoyed such as music or watching television. Many times, the use of a hearing aid can help a person enjoy the activities that they could when they could hear normally.