Life Sounds Great: Fatigue and hearing loss

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Fatigue and hearing loss

Fatigue, following communication in a noisy place can be common with a severe hearing loss. As you know, your hearing difficulty has a significant impact on communication. Without a doubt, hearing technology can and does make it possible for you to attend social activities. Without the devices, you would not be able to participate.

Conversation in noisy places such as a restaurant, can be challenging. Noise adds extra difficulty for hearing. Under these conditions, you work harder to hear than anyone else. You are actively listening, and concentrating on the speaker. You’re sorting out words from the background noise. You’re applying what you know about the topic to aid your understanding of what was said. All this takes extra energy on your part. Expending extra energy can make you tired.

Plus, after gathering what was heard, lipreading information, and applying your knowledge of the subject, you need to put the information together to make sense of it. It’s like putting puzzle pieces together. This takes an extra second or two. So at times, you may feel you are a step behind in the conversation.

When you know you will be in a noisy environment, plan ahead. See if the group will meet when the restaurant is less busy so there will be less noise. Ask for a table in the corner where it will be quieter. Try to get a good night’s sleep the night before. Most importantly, have a good time, you can rest when you go home.

Life sounds great! Enjoy every moment!