One study found that 11.4 percent of adults with self-reported hearing impairment had moderate to severe depression, while a greater percentage—19.1 percent—had mild depressive symptoms.
It is a well-known medical fact that isolation and loneliness lead to depression and other forms of mental illness. It is therefore not surprising to learn that if you are profoundly deaf you are also 50% more likely to suffer from depression than your hearing counterparts.
In addition, psychiatric conditions such as mood disorders are frequently under-diagnosed in the deaf community,8 in large part due to communication difficulties that include: few experienced interpreters between English and sign language. problems in translation between spoken and sign language.
Deaf people think in terms of their “inner voice”. Some of them think in ASL (American Sign Language), while others think in the vocal language they learned, with their brains coming up with how the vocal language sounds. Additionally, their thinking process is a little different from hearing people.
'Deaf' people mostly have profound hearing loss, which implies very little or no hearing. They often use sign language for communication.
Losing your ability to hear can dramatically impact the way you interact with others and experience life. It can also put you at greater risk for developing mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression. In fact, hearing loss and depression in older adults go hand in hand.
Similarly, it is considered incredibly rude to grab a deaf person's hands while they are signing. In the deaf community, this is the equivalent of holding your hand over someone's mouth to prevent them from speaking.
Hearing-impaired (also referred to as deaf) people think in terms of their “inner voice”. Some of them think in ASL (American Sign Language), while others think in the vocal language they learned, with their brains coming up with how the vocal language sounds.
Deaf people use facial expressions while they are using sign language to express their own emotions or to describe the emotions of others, through the use of the same range of emotional facial expressions used naturally by the general population e.g. happiness, anger, sadness etc.
Hearing-impaired people are less intelligent than people with normal hearing. Not true. There is no connection between hearing impairment and intelligence. Hearing-impaired people are just as intelligent as all other people.
Hearing loss can affect personal and work life
social withdrawal due to reduced access to services and difficulties communicating with others. emotional problems caused by a drop in self-esteem and confidence.
Having language and communication barriers are bound to cause anxiety. Think about not being able to hear the person on the other end of the phone clearly, static obstructing your hearing; rage and anger may fill your mind. Similarly, the deaf suffer this experience daily.
Concentration fatigue is a familiar term in the Deaf community. Some people who are D/deaf or Hard of Hearing experience this as a side effect of their hearing loss. Trying to concentrate, watching signing, lipreading and listening to speech and sound can be exhausting, especially over long periods of time.
Most hearing people experience their own voice in a silent way when thinking, which is also called “internal monologue”. Similarly, most Deaf people see pictures, ASL signs, or sometimes printed words. They see or feel their “inner signing”.
For people who have severe hearing impairments or are deaf, social isolation and loneliness can, unfortunately, feel like a regular occurrence.
Regulating and understanding one's own emotions is essential for the development of adequate empathic abilities. Consequently, DHH children are prone to develop lower empathic skills than normal hearing (NH) peers.
Because their deafness allows them to be a member of this supportive community, many Deaf people report that they do not want the ability to hear. According to the NAD, “Deaf people like being Deaf, want to be Deaf, and are proud of their Deafness”.
For people who are deaf, there is a common misconception that they cannot enjoy music. This is not the case. The way that they experience music is different than the way hearing people experience music, but they can still enjoy it in a full capacity.
Deaf people experience similar situations as blind people, but their dreams tend to capitalize on sight instead of sound and the other senses. Unless a person had the ability to experience hearing within their living memory, it is unlikely to have auditory sensations in their dreams.
Have you ever wondered how Deaf people wake up in the morning? The most natural way is from the sun itself. Leave curtains open to shine through windows to brighten up the room and Deaf people can sense the lighting in their sleep. Some have their own internal clock that wakes them up.
“Deaf accent” occurs because deaf people are often unable to hear the full range of sounds that hearing people hear. This means that they are not always able to replicate the full range of sounds in spoken words.
You intentionally hide your conversation from a deaf person
Hiding what you are saying from a deaf person in the room is considered to be extremely rude to the deaf culture.
Overwhelmingly, deaf and hard of hearing people prefer to be called “deaf” or “hard of hearing.” Nearly all organizations of the deaf use the term “deaf and hard of hearing,” and the NAD is no exception.