Virtual Reality Experience Replicates Life as Child with Hearing Loss

If you are an average person, it is likely you say this at least a couple of times a week, “I can imagine that.” But unless you have hearing loss, it’s hard to imagine what the world sounds like and it’s even harder for a child to imagine hearing loss and try to explain the difficulties to others. Orange County Physicians’ Hearing Services has some great resources and getting  a proper diagnosis with a hearing test, for you or your child, is the first step towards determining hearing loss and managing it.

Hearing loss in children

Hearing loss is challenging at all ages, but children with hearing loss have unique issues. Hearing loss in a child makes it tough for them to have spontaneous interaction sometimes and they may be internalizing social isolation problems. They may also have difficulty with depression and have learning difficulties.
Just as adults become more fatigued faster when they have hearing loss, so do children so it is important for parents to make sure their child is getting enough sleep. Concentrating on understanding with hearing aids as well as “properly” interacting in and outside the classroom – along with the bus and after school activities is more than a full day of activity!

Having hearing loss and hearing aids makes a child different and unfortunately, for children and adults, being “different” is not necessarily perceived as a great thing. Typically, children with hearing loss become more inner focused and this can be seen by other children as snobbish or aloof. Parents and teachers need to work on communication skills with hearing impaired children and work extra hard to make sure their peers understand what life is like when hearing is an issue.

Virtual reality to the rescue

A new virtual reality experience developed by an Australian charity shows the classroom and playground from the perspective of a child with hearing loss. The experience is designed to foster empathy among classmates – but also parents and other adults who interact with the child. One 8-year-old whose classmates used the virtual reality experience said each child was surprised at how little he could hear. His mother said going through the virtual reality experience was very emotional for her. She said learning what her son was experiencing heightened her empathy to his life and what he does and what he needs.

Audiologists helped with the “experience”

Nick Hunter is the creative director of Paper Moose which helped the virtual reality team work with audiologists to recreate how hearing loss sounds. The experience starts on the playground the sound when they first started working on the project was quite muffled. “I was really surprised when we were talking to the specialists and we did our first pass at what we thought would be moderate hearing loss and the expert said ‘No, you need to go further – it is more degraded than that.’”

After experiencing the muffled audio in the playground, the user goes to the classroom where the teacher looks right at the student and asks a question and the student is unable to understand it. Hunter said the whole experience of watching the virtual reality experience as well as going through it left him feeling isolated and vulnerable and he could only imagine that was part of what a child with actual hearing loss felt.

The importance of early intervention

Creators said the virtual reality experience also points out to parents the importance of early intervention if they even suspect their child has slight hearing loss. One specialist said the experience was a powerful motivator for parents to get their children tested and get amplification devices early.
Some parents still believe getting hearing aids for their children may set them up as targets for bullies, Experts point out if the children sound different, interact inappropriately because they can’t hear, and they act differently – this will set them up to be a target for bullying. Also, speech is often delayed when a child has hearing difficulties, and this leads to poor social outcomes.

Creators of the virtual reality experience are hopeful more schools and governmental bodies will take advantage of the new tool. Hearing loss simulations are also on several websites of hearing aid providers and these can be accessed through the Orange County Physicians’ Hearing Services website off the hearing technology section. Get your child a hearing test at Orange County Physicians’ Hearing Services to make sure they start out school and social interactions on the right foot.