Effects Of Hearing Loss
 
Hellen Keller:
"... blindness separates you from things, deafness separates you from people."

Hearing loss separates you from

  • your sound environment,
  • the music you love,
  • your loved ones,
  • and from those who hear well …
  
Hearing loss can interfere with the quality of your life by causing misunderstandings and fatigue, restricting your ability to interact with others, and filtering out the sound experiences that give pleasure and meaning to life. It can also affect your family and friends.
 
 
 
Communication difficulties
People with hearing loss usually experience communication difficulties to varying degrees. Depending on the nature and severity of the hearing loss, some people may have difficulty hearing the soft voices, others may have difficulty hearing the consonants and some may have difficulty hearing in noisy situations, whereas others might have problems hearing and understanding almost all the time.
 

Loss of sensitivity (Difficulty hearing soft speech). Loss of sensitivity means hearing sounds (including speech) softer than normal. This makes speech and other sounds difficult to hear at a 'normal' loudness level.


When you lose sensitivity to soft sounds, you need these sounds to be amplified, to make them louder, before you can hear them.


In case of a high frequency loss, you may have problems hearing and understanding soft, high pitch consonants, such as f, s, sh, th, t, p. When this happens, it become difficult to distinguish between words (such as sat, fat and pat). This can make it particularly difficult to follow a conversation and can sometimes result in inappropriate answers to questions.

 

Loss of speech discrimination (Difficulty hearing speech clearly). Loss of speech discrimination to varying degrees might be seen with sensorineural hearing losses. The amount of speech discrimination loss depends on the severity, type and duration of the hearing loss. An untreated hearing loss can also cause auditory deprivation and result in further speech discrimination loss.


Speaking louder or turning up the volume (on a TV or radio) cannot usually compensate for a loss of discrimination. People with moderate or severe speech discrimination loss may experience difficulty distinguishing the words even if they receive enough loudness.

 
Loss of ability to separate speech from noise. People with normal hearing can generally separate speech from the background sounds. But in someone with a sensorineural hearing loss this natural mechanism is usually impaired. This results in difficulties focusing on one sound (speech) and ignoring the other sounds (background music, other people talking in a restaurant or even the noise of a car).
 
 
Social, Psychological and physical effects
It is commonly known that untreated hearing loss can lead to serious social, psychological and even physical problems. Reactions differ from person to person, but most hearing-impaired people suffer some social, psychological and physical problems as a result of their hearing loss.
 
Social effects. People who suffer from untreated hearing loss may withdraw from social situations or refrain from favourite hobbies such as music or watching TV. They may avoid interaction with others for fear of appearing confused, inept, or in the case of the elderly, senile. These people may even have difficulty interacting with their spouse, their children and grandchildren, which cause loss of intimacy. They may avoid meeting new people and have difficulty coping in public places. This may result in withdrawal from social situations and a growing sense of isolation from others.

Communication difficulty, distraction, lack of concentration and other problems at work can make it very hard for the untreated hearing impaired to deal with their co-workers and may have to give up work or retire.

 
Psychological and emotional effects. People with untreated hearing loss may experience emotional and psychological effects. They have anxiety about being in social situations, which eventually results in withdrawal, isolation, sadness or depression. Embarrassment, self-criticism and low self-esteem/self-confidence are other effects associated with untreated hearing loss. People with untreated hearing loss may become irritable and less tolerant towards others and some of them may even become paranoid.
In severe cases, hearing loss may have more severe effects. For the hearing impaired, trying to keep up in conversations and overcoming the anxiety of being in social settings may be so stressful that it may even cause psychological disorders.
 
Physical effects. People who suffer from untreated hearing loss may need to concentrate hard to follow a conversation especially in difficult listening situations. They cannot normally be relaxed in such situations. Untreated hearing loss can result in some physical problems such as stress, tense muscles, headache, tiredness or exhaustion and even increased blood pressure.
 
 
Effect of hearing loss on family, friends, and co-workers

Hearing loss does not just affect individuals, it affects everyone who interacts with them. Family, friends, and people at work are just as bothered by the hearing loss as the person suffering from it.


Talking takes extra effort. Others may be impatient because they have to repeat themselves so often. Conversation becomes time consuming. Communication by phone is more difficult.


People with a hearing loss miss out on whispered affections or confidences. Others feel at a loss to help and they often wish for the "old relationship" they remember.


While you may experience anxiety, isolation and depression (as a result of your hearing loss), the other family members may feel irritation, frustration, anger and helplessness. These feelings are normal, as is the family's desire to help.

 

 

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