It’s a common misconception that if you lose one of your five senses, the others will become stronger to compensate. This is a partial truth; in reality, this phenomenon is more complex than it may seem. In this post, we review what the research says about how hearing loss impacts other senses.
Hearing Loss Changes Your Brain
Researchers at the University of Colorado’s Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Science sought to uncover how hearing loss changes the brain and what the implications of these changes are in a 2015 study.
As part of the study, researchers placed sensors on the participants’ scalps to monitor their brain’s response to sound stimuli. The researchers then compared how the function of people’s brains varied based on whether or not the hearing loss was present.
They found that, among those with hearing loss, the areas responsible for other senses, like vision and touch, overtook the centers of the brain dedicated to hearing.
According to the researchers, “The areas of the brain responsible for processing vision or touch can recruit areas in which hearing is normally processed, but which receive little or no stimulation in deafness. This is called ‘cross-modal’ cortical reorganization and reflects a fundamental property of the brain to compensate in response to its environment.”
Implications of these Results
It may sound as if cross-modal cortical reorganization is beneficial, but there are some negative implications – the brain’s compensatory solution can result in areas of the brain dedicated to higher-level thinking taking over weaker areas. This means they can no longer perform their primary function.
There Is Hope
Seeking treatment and exploring hearing aids early can prevent cross-modal cortical reorganization. In fact, according to another study, “Beyond the known benefits of hearing aid use on communication, outcomes from this study provide evidence that clinical intervention with well-fit amplification may promote more typical cortical organization and functioning and provide cognitive benefit.”
Because the brain begins to reorganize itself during the early stages of hearing loss, it’s important to seek treatment as soon as you start to exhibit symptoms.
Signs of hearing loss include turning up the TV louder than others prefer, asking people to repeat themselves frequently and having trouble hearing in places with lots of background noise like at Second Set Bistro.
For more information or to schedule an appointment with a hearing expert, call Western Montana Hearing and Speech today.