#partial hearing loss

[startledoctopus]

new update to the sensorineural hearing loss! tinnitus has been super loud for a week and half, then a few days ago my bad ear started interpreting certain sounds as /beep!/ kinda like morse code. plugging in electronics? beep! kiss? beep! snap my fingers? beep! swallow? beep!

messaged the doctor, went in for an audiogram, tested the same as last time. 🤷

anyone else ever experienced this?

[drowningintheshadowss]

It just hit me that there’s now a time limit on my being able to go to a Powwow on my family’s Reservation and actually be able to hear the music there. I don’t know the time limit but it just feels very different than having the rest of my life. I don’t want that to be something that I miss

[of-stars-and-moon]

Writing Adam's hearing loss masterpost

So after my research on SSD for hiaap, I thought of making this sorta brief list post if any other writer wants some tips to write Adam’s hearing loss and also for my future reference. A thousand thank you's to @yumearashi for answering my questions. I added their answers at the end for more detailed help and also they added some points to this post that is also very detailed and resourceful.

Since Adam’s hearing loss is due to traumatic brain injury, its symptoms can be like this:

-Dizziness, vertigo, chronic nausea and headache

-Difficulty understanding speech, especially when there is background noise

-Difficulty locating sounds (knowing where they are coming from)

-Tinnitus (a ringing in the ears with no external source)

-Hyperacusis (extreme sensitivity to sounds)

For some examples:

In Aglionby, he would have trouble listening to his friends in a crowded hallway. He wouldn't catch it if someone was calling for him or coming up on his left side.

In Fox way, if it's especially crowded, he would have trouble concentrating too.

In Nino’s, I hc that his friends chose the quietest booth in a corner, but like on weekends, if it's crowded, he wouldn't be able to properly understand his friends.

In general, if he doesn't catch what someone said, it's very likely he wouldn't ask them to repeat themselves, which Yume explained more below.

The detailed answers:

How would the noise in school or shops effect him?

Noisy environments would make it really difficult for Adam to understand speech or pick a single sound out of the background. Much like how depth perception works by the brain comparing the minute differences between the images from each eye, we locate and focus on sounds based on the difference in volume reaching each ear. A person who is deaf in one ear cannot tell where a sound is coming from (this would be a great source of material if you wanted to write about a Monmouth prank gone wrong, or the Aglionby boys making fun of Adam) nor focus on one sound in a crowd of noise - for example, Gansey's voice in a hallway full of chattering students, or the sound of approaching footsteps in a noisy auto shop or factory assembly line.

Adam likely spends a lot of time bluffing his way through the parts of conversations he cannot hear. Partly because of the Adam Parris Stubborn Idiot Pride was all know and love, but also partly because hearing impaired people learn very quickly not to ask people to repeat themselves. People are quick to become dismissive, frustrated, or irritable - even hostile - when asked to repeat themselves more than once, even when they know the person they're talking to has a hearing impairment. (My theory on this is that the subconscious equates not being heard with not being listened to, and feel disrespected or ignored.) Ask any hearing impaired person how they feel about the phrase 'never mind' and you will get a rant. Someone like Adam, who has grown up learning how to avoid triggering anger to prevent physical violence, would be very quick to pick up on this, and very quick to stop asking people to repeat themselves. This habit is extremely hard to break once ingrained, even around people you know will be patient and kind.

In the posts you has shared when I first asked about this in the dreamers, it mentioned that some frequencies are harder for him to hear so like would hearing music be different? like Noah plays guitar in my fic so after losing the hearing in his left ear, would Adam be able hear it properly?

Music can indeed be difficult. It is likely that Adam does not experience music the way that fully-hearing people do, although to what degree he's impacted depends on the song. Music that uses the frequencies he struggles with will definitely sound different, but he may or may not be able to tell. if it's a song he hasn't heard before, or doesn't remember particularly well, he probably would notice the difference. I'm long past remembering what sounds sounded like back when my hearing was intact, and since I was so young when it began to deteriorate, I've never heard the vast majority of the music I know with fully functional hearing.

Music is also subject to what I mentioned above about being able to distinguish sounds. It's less so, because it's one source of sound, and the tracks are volume adjusted to make some sounds more prominent than others, but it does still happen. I vividly remember listening to a song in the car that sounded like just so much of a jumble, until halfway through I randomly caught a familiar phrase and it all fell into place - this was one of my favorite songs ever, and I had not recognized it at all.

Would learning ASL be helpful for Adam? I've been wanting to write a fic like that for sometime so I thought I'd add that in this fic too

I can see Adam deciding to do so. I feel like his attitude towards that would be that it's a skill that might be useful to acquire - something that could be valuable in his future career.

The thing about sign language, though, is that learning it only allows you to speak to others. In order for sign language to help a hearing impaired person, other people have to know it too.

[yumearashi]

hey youve posted about being deaf before so i hope this is OK to ask. basically a little over a week ago i woke up and the hearing in one of my ears is muffled. the doctors havent gotten back to me so i dont actually know whats caused it, but does this mean im deaf? is there a time frame or limit for actually being deaf? i can still hear a bit out of it, but it hurts to and its hard to understand what im hearing. sorry if this is inappropriate!

*hugs lots* Hearing loss isn’t always permanent, it can be caused by an infection that can be treated or by trauma that may heal in time.  But whatever the cause, your doctors should definitely not be ignoring you.  If you can’t get in touch with your regular doctor, try calling others.  If there’s a ENT (Ear Nose Throat, aka otolaryngology) office in the area, call them.  Even if there’s none in your area, an office further away might be willing to schedule a phone/video consult. (Of course, always check your health insurance first.)  I’m hypocritical to say it, but please, please, please, don’t decide to just put up with it.  If this is an infection, it is close to some very vital areas. If it does prove to be permanent, there are lots of communities and resources and advice out there, you’re welcome to come back if you get a diagnosis like that and we can talk about how to help you with long-term hearing loss.  My diagnosis is Meniere’s syndrome, and I’ve been living with it for over 20 years.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me any time, I don’t consider it inappropriate at all, I always welcome questions about my hearing loss.

Whether this is temporary or permanent, I hope you get medical support and have the best possible outcome.  <3<3<3

[areweouthear]

A little boy came up to me while I was working the other day, pointed to my hearing aid, and said: "Excuse me, I think you have a bug in your hair."

[this-user-is-blog]

[disabilityuserboxes]

this user has partial hearing loss

[forgotn1]

As someone with mild hearing loss in one ear, it fucks me up when songs have a sound playing in one speaker only. Whenever I notice it I have to flip my headphones to see if the hearing loss is worse or if it was by design.