Do you know someone who seems to TALK IN ALL CAPS? Do you wonder WHY THEY’RE ALWAYS YELLING? Being a “loud talker” could be a sign of a hearing issue. Dr. Natalie McKee, Au.D. gives a fantastic overview on why some people struggle to regulate the volume of their voice, and how it can happen at any age. Watch more Q&As, then schedule your appointment with us at either our Bloomington or Pontiac locations.
Hi, I’m Dr. Natalie McKee at Bloomington-Normal Audiology, and welcome to I Hear You, where the audiologists at BNA answer your hearing-related questions. Austin in Normal asks, “I’ve been told I’m a loud talker. Could this mean I have hearing loss?” We get this question a lot, and it is one of the reasons people schedule appointments for hearing exams. Some people will be loud talkers due to the circumstances of how they were raised. Anecdotally, we have patients tell us, well I grew up with 5 or 6 siblings and I had to be loud if I was gonna be heard and get my point across. So some of us naturally come up being louder talkers, or end up in professions where we learn to talk loud: like audiology. But also teachers, public speakers, salesmen, people who have to be up in front of people. And those people sometimes can turn it off-and-on. They know they need to be louder for a situation, and then they go home and have their “inside voice.” But there are people who will, with hearing loss, they don’t realize the volume of their own speaking, and as their hearing loss increases, they will gradually get louder and louder. This will happen to people of any age. So we’ll see little kids sometimes and parents will say, “Everything was fine, then all of a sudden the TV needs to be louder and they’re screaming about everything all the time.” And they end up having an ear infection or fluid. They get that treated and then their volume goes back down. The same thing happens with hearing aids typically. The patient can’t regulate themselves well. Then you get amplification bringing everything back up to where it should be, and they now hear themselves better. Then that’s a self-regulation of bringing themselves back down. It sometimes takes a little time to get back down to normal, depending on how long it’s been. But yes, that’s something we work through with patients if that does end up being the cause of the problem. So if you’re concerned about the volume of your speech and think maybe you have a hearing loss, it’s a good reason to come in for a baseline, and we’d love to see you for that. Hope that helps! If you have more questions, be sure to reach out to us. I’m Dr. Natalie McKee at Bloomington-Normal Audiology, and we’re ‘hear’ for you.