“When should you start getting a hearing test?”

I love that youre already thinking about this! I always advise our patients to have a baseline audiogram at some point once they reach 45. Then you have something for comparison in the future if anything changes or you have a significant health event. If the hearing is normal, then you can retest a few years after that just for monitoring.

If you notice difficulty understanding normal conversational speech or have been told by friends or family that you ask for repetition too frequently, those may be signs that your hearing is deteriorating. The most important thing is not to wait - if you notice a problem, go get a test. Most people wait 6-8 years after they start noticing a problem before they get a hearing test, and by that point it becomes very difficult to adapt to hearing aids if they need them.