I have hearing loss in both ears. The cause isn't known, but they think I was either born with it, or that mumps did the damage when I was 3. I have loss of high and low frequencies (one ear sounds tinny, the other like I'm underwater), and nerve conduction damage because of a 'floppy' ear drum. This affects the clarity of sound. The hearing impairments make it difficult for me to tell where sounds are coming from, and how far away they come from. My localisation problems gave me hell at work, I was always ignoring my phone when it was actually ringing, and picking it up when someone else's phone was ringing!

Additionally, I also suffer with Tinnitus!

As I've lived with this hearing problem since a young age, I just adapted to it with the use of lip reading, tone, facial expression, gesture, body language, and, at times, pure guesswork! It's advantaged my skills in reading nonverbal communication. I didn't realise how bad my hearing is, and how much it affected my life (and my confidence) until I started wearing hearing aids last summer.

The tinnitus plays havoc with hypervigilance. And so does my hearing 'confusion'. Not clearly hearing things, or where or how close they are, makes it hard for me to tell what sounds are... and this is never good when I am hypervigilant because I have trouble reassuring myself. For example, I can 'feel' the vibrations of car sounds before I hear them at night (I don't know if that's what normal hearers can do too or not), or I tend to 'feel' a gnat flying by my face rather than hearing it... imagine that when you're hypervigilant! I go 'WHOA what the **** is that!" before I figure it out.

However, I do find that there is an advantage... when I am in 'sound overload' during the day, I can take my hearing aids off and tone down the sound a little. However when I'm really hypervigilant or anxious, I feel a need to hear, and at night as I can't sleep with hearing aids in, I don't think that helps.

I also find that sometimes when I'm having trouble hearing, because I am having to concentrate on 'translating' sounds into words and making sense of what is someone saying, it becomes hard work, and slows my thinking process down.