It is important for overall health to take care of your sense of hearing.

It is important to protect your hearing from loud noise, at work and with recreational noise from lawn mowers and gunfire.

It is important to discuss hearing loss with your physician and to request a hearing test.

How do you know if you have a hearing loss? Do you answer "yes" to any of the following?

1. Do you have difficulty understanding in noise?

2. Do you ask people to repeat what they have said?

3. Do you turn up the radio or TV set to a louder level than your family or friends do?

4. Do family and friends say that you might not hear well?

If you are interested in better hearing, contact your physician and an audiologist for a evaluation.

Remember: When you hear better, you feel better.

By Anne Pratt Giroux, Au.D.