The Added Difficulties of Single Sided Deafness

As a result, the average person sees hearing loss as a black and white — someone has normal hearing in both ears or reduced hearing on both sides, but that dismisses one particular kind of hearing loss completely.

A 1998 study estimated approximately 400,000 kids had a unilateral hearing loss due to trauma or disease at the time. It's safe to say this number has gone up in that past two decades.

What's Single-Sided hearing loss and What Causes It?

As the name implies, single-sided hearing loss suggests a decrease in hearing just in one ear.In extreme cases, deep deafness is possible. The nonfunctioning ear is incapable of hearing whatsoever and that person is left with monaural sound quality — their hearing is limited to one side of their body.

Causes of unilateral hearing loss vary. It may be caused by trauma, for instance, a person standing next to a gun firing on the left may end up with profound or moderate hearing loss in that ear. A disorder can lead to the problem, too, for example:

• Acoustic neuroma
• Measles
• Microtia
• Meningitis
• Waardenburg syndrome
• Mumps
• Mastoiditis

Whatever the cause, a person with unilateral hearing needs to adapt to a different way of processing audio.

Direction of the Sound

The brain utilizes the ears nearly just like a compass. It identifies the direction of noise based on what ear registers it initially and at the maximum volume. When a person talks to you while standing on the left, the brain sends a signal to turn in that direction.

With the single-sided hearing loss, the noise will only come in one ear regardless of what direction it comes from. If you have hearing in the left ear, your mind will turn left to look for the sound even if the person talking is on the right.

Think for a minute what that would be similar to. The audio would enter one side regardless of where what direction it comes from. How would you know where an individual speaking to you is standing? Even if the hearing loss isn't deep, sound direction is tricky.

Honing in on Sound

The brain also uses the ears to filter out background sound. It informs one ear, the one closest to the noise that you wish to focus on, to listen to a voice. Your other ear handles the background sounds. That is why at a noisy restaurant, so you may still concentrate on the conversation at the table.

When you don't have that tool, the mind becomes confused. It is unable to filter out background sounds like a fan blowing, so that is everything you hear.

The Ability to Multitask

The mind has a lot going on at any one time but having two ears enables it to multitask. That's the reason you can sit and examine your social media sites whilst watching Netflix or talking with family. With only one functioning ear, the mind loses the ability to do one thing when listening. It must prioritize between what you hear and what you see, which means you usually lose out on the conversation taking place without you while you navigate your newsfeed.

The Head Shadow Impact

The head shadow effect clarifies how certain sounds are inaccessible to a person having a unilateral hearing loss. Low tones have extended frequencies so that they bend enough to wrap around the head and reach the ear. High pitches have shorter wavelengths and don't endure the trek.

If you are standing next to a person with a high pitched voice, then you may not understand what they say if you don't turn so the good ear is facing them. On the flip side, you might hear someone with a deep voice just fine regardless of what side they are on because they produce longer sound waves which make it to either ear.

Individuals with just minor hearing loss in only one ear tend to accommodate. They learn quickly to turn their head a certain way to hear a friend talk, for instance. For those who battle with single-sided hearing loss, a hearing aid may be work round that yields their lateral hearing.