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No matter how hard we try, hearing loss is a natural part of ageing. But it's not something you should ignore - there are some simple things you can do to ensure your hearing stays as good as it can.
It’s easy to take good hearing for granted. You probably know what it’s like to have ‘blocked’ ears with a bad cold – everything sounds muffled and you may have to ask people to repeat things. Fortunately, hearing usually returns to normal after a cold.
But, like many people, you might find it harder to hear as you get older. Gradual hearing loss is a natural part of ageing, although you may not notice it until you are in your 60s or 70s. More than half of people over the age of 60 have some sort of hearing loss. But surprisingly most people who could benefit from a hearing aid don’t have one.
Here is a checklist to help you decide. If you answer ‘yes’ to any of the following questions, you may have a hearing loss.
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Downloads
A download is a document (like a research report, a leaflet, or an application form) that can be transferred from our website to your computer. You can download a file, view it on your screen, print it, or save it to your computer.
PDF stands for ‘portable document format’.
Most downloads on this website are PDFs. We use this format to ensure that the document looks the same on everyone’s computer (website pages, by contrast, appear differently depending on how people have set their computer up).
Computers use a program called Adobe Acrobat Reader to download PDFs. If you try clicking on a link to download a PDF and it doesn’t work, you will need to install Adobe Acrobat Reader onto your computer.
The process is quite straightforward and is free.
PDFs cannot be changed. If you need to be able to type into a downloaded document (for example, if we are offering a letter template that you need to put your name on) we will provide it as a Microsoft Word document rather than a PDF. You can then download it, type into it and save it to your computer.
Downloads will open on your computer in a new browser window.
Inside this window (below all your web browser menus), there will be a toolbar with options for you to print or save the document.
Close the browser window to return to the Age UK website.
We have made every effort to make our PDFs accessible to screen readers. Here is an overview of your accessibility options available in Acrobat Reader. Please ensure that you have downloaded the latest version of Acrobat Reader from the Adobe Reader website to ensure that they are included in your version of the programme.
You can use Adobe Reader to read a PDF out loud with the following shortcut keys:
You can also convert a PDF into a web page by following these steps:
You can convert a PDF document into a text file for use with other software and hardware such as Braille printers by opening the PDF and choosing ‘Save as text’ from the File menu.
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