Single-sided deafness, or unilateral hearing loss, is more widespread than people realize, especially in children. Age-related hearing loss, which worries most adults sooner or later, tends to be lateral, to put it simply, it affects both ears to some point. Because of this, the average person sees hearing loss as a binary — someone has typical hearing in both ears or reduced hearing on each side, but that ignores one form of hearing loss completely.
A 1998 study thought that around 400,000 kids had a unilateral hearing loss due to injury or disease at the time. It’s safe to say this number has increased in that past two decades. The truth is single-sided hearing loss does occur and it brings with it unique challenges.
What’s Single-Sided hearing loss and What Causes It?
As its name implies, single-sided hearing loss suggests a reduction in hearing just in one ear.In intense cases, deep deafness is potential.
Reasons for premature hearing loss differ. It may be caused by trauma, for instance, a person standing next to a gun firing on the left might get moderate or profound hearing loss in that ear. A disease can lead to this problem, as well, for example:
- Acoustic neuroma
- Measles
- Microtia
- Meningitis
- Waardenburg syndrome
- Mumps
- Mastoiditis
No matter the cause, a person who has unilateral hearing must adapt to a different method of processing audio.
Management of the Sound
The mind uses the ears almost just like a compass. It defines the direction of sound based on which ear registers it initially and at the highest volume. When somebody speaks to you while standing on the left, the brain sends a signal to flip in that way.
With the single-sided hearing loss, the noise will only come in one ear regardless of what way it originates. If you have hearing from the left ear, then your head will turn left to look for the sound even when the person talking is on the right.
Pause for a minute and consider what that would be similar to. The audio would always enter one side regardless of where what direction it comes from. How would you understand where a person talking to you personally is standing? Even if the hearing loss isn’t deep, sound direction is tricky.
Honing in on Sound
The mind also employs the ears to filter out background sound. It tells one ear, the one nearest to the sound that you wish to focus on, to listen to a voice. The other ear handles the background noises. That is why at a noisy restaurant, you can still focus on the dialogue at the table.
Without that tool, the mind becomes confused. It’s unable to filter out background noises like a fan blowing, so that is everything you hear.
The Ability to Multitask
The brain has a lot going on at any given time but having two ears allows it to multitask. That is why you can sit and read your social media account while watching TV or having a conversation. With only one working ear, the mind loses the ability to do something while listening. It has to prioritize between what you see and what you hear, which means you usually lose out on the dialogue around you while you navigate your newsfeed.
The Head Shadow Impact
The head shadow effect clarifies how certain sounds are inaccessible to an individual having a unilateral hearing loss. Low tones have long frequencies so they bend enough to wrap round the mind and reach the working ear. High pitches have shorter wavelengths and don’t survive the trek.
If you’re standing next to an individual with a high pitched voice, you may not understand what they say unless you turn so the working ear is on their side. On the flip side, you may hear somebody with a deep voice just fine regardless of what side they’re on because they produce longer sound waves that make it into either ear.
People with only minor hearing loss in just one ear have a tendency to accommodate. They learn fast to turn their mind a certain way to listen to a friend speak, for example. For people who struggle with single-sided hearing loss, a hearing aid might be work round that yields their lateral hearing.