Comprendre sa mémoire - Chap 6 - Nos sens et leur mémoire

   1 - Introduction
   2 - Sight
   3 - Hearing
   4 - Taste
    5 - Smell
   6 - Touch

  1 - Sight
  2 - Hearing
  3 - Taste
  4 - Smell
  5 - Touch

Choix de questions
...et réponse apportée...

   1 - La mémoire ou les mémoires
   2 - Mémoire et attention
   3 - Biologie de la mémoire
   4 - La fonction mémoire
   5 - L'nvironnement de la mémoire
   6 - Nos sens et leur mémoire

Chapter 6 : Our senses and their memory

Presentation

- - - - - - HEARING

The foetus hears noises, recognises deep sounds. Hearing develops quickly but sharpens slowly. This process lasts until the age of 7. Hearing is the second most utilised sense. It is an indispensable link in our relations with others.

The ear is a extraordinary example of the means nature uses to transmit information. A sound is firstly a soundwave transmitted by vibrations in the air. Received by the pavilion of the ear, led to the eardrum, it is transformed into vibrations that communicate ever more closely by the ossicle to the cilia to be transformed into electrical impulses sent to the auditive zones and then to the cortex.

Evolution of the hearing of the over-50s :

* Hearing normally diminishes gradually, sometimes without a person being aware of it. High-pitched sounds are perceived less well, then deep sounds. This is sometimes accompanied by dizziness or buzzing sounds in the ears.

* The speed at which information is passed on tends to slow down, causing a delayed response.

It is useful to adapt to this change in rhythms so as to maintain the ability to communicate. The ENT specialist should be consulted as soon as the first problems appear. If listening becomes tiring, if we often have to make people repeat themselves, if we have to turn up the television, if following a conversation in a noisy environment is difficult, then a consultation is necessary. The ENT specialist will do tests to locate the problem and find the most useful treatment : therapy, medication, a hearing aid …

Hearing aids

Despite considerable progress, they are still considered expensive and only moderately effective. Many people buy them but don’t wear them and just leave them in the drawer. A better provider/user relationship and better information need to be put in place. But they can be very useful when hearing and communication become too difficult.

There is no point in shouting at a deaf person. Speak clearly and if possible facing the person.

It should be noted that :

*A hearing aid should be tried for several weeks, if possible at home, before final purchase.

*A hearing aid should be regulated with precision in accordance with the needs of the patient, and most often at the outset. (Competent specialists have very precise regulating systems.) A properly regulated hearing aid will be very useful. A badly regulated one will cause fatigue because it will amplify unwanted sounds (background noise).

*A T-switch on the ear shell is used to plug the hearing aid onto magnetic loops available in public places (Post office, Railways) and to amplify the telephone. (This T-switch is available on external, but not internal aids, as the latter are too small.)

“a hearing aid must be tried to adjust it correctly”

In many cases of serious deafness, an aid will not be enough. Orthophonic therapy will also be needed, so as to learn to lipread. Lipreading helps compensate the hearing deficiency by using sight, and is the most effective way of compensating for deafness.

“Lipreading helps compensating what is not heard by what is read.”

Small useful means for the deafs whom it is necessary to know how to use.
They facilitate the life of the deafs and their circle of acquaintances:

*Earphones for radio and TV enable deaf people to hear comfortably without bothering neighbours.

*TV decoders enable deaf people to read certain programs, sub-titled specially for their convenience.

The effects on behaviour of poor hearing are significant:

Deaf people speak in a loud voice and often have words repeated. They are very tiring in social situations. They bother people and are aware of it.
So as not to bother others, many people hard of hearing gradually get used to living without understanding what people around them are saying, and without joining in the conversation.

The hard of hearing and their memory

Deafness causes a gap, psychological and emotional isolation, constant lack of stimulation. If there is no compensation, by way of a strong and dynamic personal life, the whole personality is involved, with the risk of a general drop in intellectual capacity, and the way open to depression.

Poor hearing means being deprived of a primordial means of communication, which is already developing four months before birth. The consequences of this deprivation are psychologically more serious than those of failing sight.

That is why the deafs are rather often sad and pushed(depressed). The loss of the hearing(audition) cuts them profoundly of the relation with the others. And questions all the relational structure of the person since his birth and same front.

It is true as well as there are the selective deafness, as " there is the worse deaf person than the one who does not want to hear( is sometimes a means of wholesome protection, and " make repeat ", a way of trying to draw the attention which it is necessary to know how to respect.: " I put my glasses to listen to you better ", the gratitude(recognition) of the support is not a joke, but which all the senses(directions) give themselves for a better perception.

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