Heightened Hearing After Vision Loss
Everything feels so loud now. Background noises rush in all at once, making it tough to focus on the conversation right in front of me. Take work, for example—while sitting at my desk, I can clearly hear conversations happening five cubicles away, details I never would have noticed before. At home, it’s the small, constant sounds that drown out the movie I’m trying to watch. The dishwasher hums in the background, water drips from the faucet, the toilet flushes, and I can even pick up on the tumbling sound of clothes in the dryer. There’s a strange duality to it; while this heightened awareness has its perks, it also has its challenges.
Since losing some of my vision, I’ve noticed my hearing seems more sensitive, especially to sounds that are loud or unexpected. It’s likely a condition called hyperacusis, where everyday noises feel amplified. I’ve thought about trying earplugs to muffle some of these sounds, but I’ve learned that could make the sensitivity worse in the long run.
This shift in my hearing isn’t entirely unexpected. When someone loses a sense, the brain often reorganizes to heighten other senses, like hearing, as a form of compensation. This adaptation can happen at any age, though it’s more pronounced when someone loses their vision early in life, while the brain is still developing. For me, it feels like my hearing is finely tuned to details I hadn’t noticed before, as if my brain is making up for what my eyes can’t quite capture.
