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For the person who experiences hearing difficulties, the hearing problem is often just the beginning of a series of social obstacles. Hearing problems have been linked to changes in personality. Characteristics that have left the individual open to ridicule and to become the butt of jokes. It is easy to understand, then, why many individuals who are victims of this widespread malady become withdrawn, suspicious of others, indecisive, angry, and hostile, their self-image becomes steadily eroded.
The most common type of hearing loss is sensori-neural hearing loss. In 80% of the cases, this type of hearing loss exists in both sides of the brain and needs to be treated on both sides of the head. The encouraging fact is that people with this type of loss can be helped, usually with binaural hearing aids fit in combination with aural rehabilitation.
Sensori-neural hearing loss occurs most often as a part of the aging process, developing gradually over a period of many years. Typically, the change is so gradual that the individual is not aware of the change as it occurs. Unlike other physical problems, hearing loss is not physically noticeable and it doesn't hurt. How, then, do we know that it exists?
Hearing loss manifests itself in the way that the individual acts in various social situations and by the way he interacts with others. Usually, it is a spouse or other relative, a friend, or a business associate who will notice the problem first.
The affected individual is unable to really define what is happening. In fact, he finds it confusing. Due to the nature of sensori-neural hearing loss, the individual may not notice any real change in the way he hears noise.
Sensori-neural hearing losses usually begin in the high frequency/speech range and gradually progress into the mid and low frequencies. As a result, he will find it more difficult to understand conversation. It is not uncommon to hear a person with sensori-neural hearing loss say, “I hear but, I don’t understand.”
Those who interact with the hearing-impaired person will often remark, “He doesn’t pay attention”, or “he ignores me”. Interpersonal relationships become more and more strained as the individual becomes the butt of jokes or the focus of anger.
This is the environment in which this person is required to function. Psychologically he is hurt. There are basically five distinct personality characteristics of the hearing-impaired person.
Personality Characteristic 1: Withdrawal
The easiest way to deal with the psychological hurt is to simply not expose ourselves to situations in which we may continue to be vulnerable. The hearing-impaired person begins to withdraw from society, even situations which previously may have been the focal point of his social interaction.
For example, an individual who has been an active, participating lodge member may find it increasingly difficult to communicate at meetings. He will gradually begin to attend meetings less frequently, eventually not at all.
Personality Characteristic 2: Hostility
Other family members will notice personality changes in the hearing-impaired individual. They may comment that this person is “grouchy”, or has become “difficult to get along with”. Hostility develops.
The hearing-impaired person becomes less tolerant of others as a result of hearing these kinds of comments over and over again. Further, people tend to raise their voices when speaking to him. When they talk louder, we often look and sound angry. Whether or not we are aware, the hearing-impaired individual will perceive our communications as if it’s projecting anger and hostility.
Personality Characteristic 3: Suspicion
Unable to trust his own ability to hear and understand what is being said, the hearing-impaired person becomes suspicious. He becomes suspicious of others, often to a point where he will believe that people are talking about him rather than communicating with him. The hearing-impaired person may even question whether or not others really want to be with him at all.
Because of this inability to hear clearly, he finds that he is less able to depend upon that information as accurate. Cautiously, he begins to seek other avenues for information and assurance.
Personality Characteristic 4: Indecision
Lack of confidence results in a lack of ability to accurately evaluate and make decisions about many things. The hearing-impaired person turns decision making over to someone else, often the person who has been, in his mind, the most trustworthy. It is not uncommon that we see a spouse, son or daughter as the influential person when the hearing-impaired person purchases a car, clothes or furniture.
Personality Characteristic 5: Sensitivity to Intent
You’ll notice that the hearing-impaired person will watch you with a great deal of concentration. His powers of observations are more than lip reading. The hearing-impaired person has learned to read facial expression, body language and content of speech. These are his “visual cues” that will help him to perceive and make a decision regarding intent, your intent.
This is not to say that the hearing-impaired person is a better judge of character, only that he relies very strongly on his developed ability to assess others motives.
The hearing-impaired person trusts his own ability to recognize individuals who are sincerely interested in his welfare.
This is how a person with normal hearing hears versus how a person with untreated sensori- neural hearing loss hears
Lower –pitched sounds ,vowels give words their power .The higher pitched sounds ,consonants give words their clarity .If you are experiencing nerve damage, the most common type of hearing loss ,you hear the lower pitched vowels louder than the higher pitched consonants. Speech is distorted so you hear but do not understand.
The letters in bold are what a person with untreated sensori - neural does not hear in the below conversation
LOWER-PITCHED SOUNDS,VOWELS GIVE WORDS THEIR POWER. The higher-pitched sounds,consonants give words their clarity. If you are experiencing nerve damage, the most common type of hearing loss,you hear the lower -pitched vowels louder than the higher -pitched consonants. Speech is distorted so you can hear but cannot understand.
The following is another example of a conversation between a wife and her husband who has a sensori-neural hearing loss:
As you can see, the husband can hear but has difficulty making out the words. This leads to frustration to both husband and wife.
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