Study on Dreams in People with Hearing Impairments

Are you someone who wakes up and still remembers your dreams from the night before? Many people have recollections from all the places they’ve been and the people and beings they’ve encountered while resting while others awake rarely with these memories. The question of why we dream has long inspired fascinated philosophers since the beginning of time.

However, for all the wonder and research we don’t have a solid answer for why we do it. Some of the more prominent dream theories contend that the function of dreaming is to consolidate memories, process emotions, and express our deepest desires all within a dream state in which we feel comfortable to do so.

It is in a sense an overnight therapy where your mind can work out traumatic events and complicated feelings in a safe place free of actual danger. But how do dreams affect people with sensory deficits such as sight and hearing? Recent research has explored the dreams of those with hearing loss to determine its effects on the subconscious process of dreams.

How Do You Dream?

We sleep in four stages, which often repeat themselves in order a couple of times through the night. The fourth stage is called REM which stands for Rapid Eye Movement. Sleep studies show that our brainwaves are almost as active during REM cycles as they are when we are conscious and awake. During REM sleep our brains People are always curious about our dreams. Research shows that sleep is a time when our brain stores memories and this often occurs primarily during REM sleep. It’s a time that aids in the storage of important facts learned and important memories while filtering through unimportant memories and sorting through complicated thoughts and feelings.

Do People with Hearing Loss Dream Differently?

Researchers have long wondered about the effects of dreaming for hearing impaired people.  For example, do people born without sight have visual dreams? What about those born deaf or those who have had hearing loss enough years to forget what many common noises sound like? Do people with hearing loss dream without sound?

One small study interviewed 14 people in 2011 and determined that those with hearing impairments do dream without sound. By interviewing the cohort they were able to deduce aspects of their sensory experience while dreaming. All the participants reported being able to hear in their dreams even with significant hearing impairments in their waking life.

A more recent 2016 study published in Dreaming looked to a larger cohort of over 400 high school students. 86 in this cohort had significant hearing loss while the rest had normal hearing. Based on their interviews the students with hearing loss self-reported significantly more vivid dreams which included rich sensory information such as smell, taste, pain, and fluctuation in temperature. The students with hearing loss also reported extreme emotional sensations, such as joy, fear, anger, and surprise in comparison to students with normal hearing. Most notable the students with hearing loss were more able to recall their dreams than those with normal hearing upon waking again as well as experiencing lucid dreaming. A lucid dream is a unique state where a person becomes aware that they are dreaming and can sometimes manipulate their dreams.

Sensory Compensation

What could account for this increased variation in the sensation while dreaming for hearing impaired individuals? Researchers believe it could be due to sensory compensation. Sensory compensation occurs when a sense organ, such as the eyes or ears is lost causing more sensation in other parts of the body. A good example of this occurs in hearing-impaired people when they begin to rely on lip-reading and body language to compensate for what they can’t hear. A hearing deficit may also be responsible for more extreme dream experiences.

Schedule a Hearing Test

If you are experiencing hearing loss, it’s a good idea to act upon it as soon as possible. Left undiagnosed or unaddressed it can turn into communication rifts causing many to experience strains on their most precious relationships as well as chronic depression, anxiety, sleep issues, and isolation. Don’t let hearing loss get to this point. Schedule a hearing exam now. We can help you find the best solution for all your hearing needs so you can dream easy at the end of the day