How Mindfulness Can Help With Hearing Loss

Photo Credit: kelvin - Pexels. Man wearing a red t-shirt and baseball cap is standing with the sun on his face and his eyes closed. The background is a blue sky with white clouds.

Whilst there is plenty of technical help for hearing loss, from hearing aids and sound streamers to transcription apps, there is less support for the emotional side of losing your hearing.

You get a diagnosis, get some hearing aids, then you’re left to get on with it. For some people with mild hearing loss, once they have hearing aids they can go about life as usual. Nothing really changes.

But if you have moderate, severe or profound hearing loss, you may struggle to adapt to your new ‘normal’. Conversations become difficult to follow. Music may sound different.

It’s common to feel sadness or anger about what you have lost, and whilst people may empathise with you, no one really understands what you’re going through.

You might feel anxious about your hearing getting worse. You may feel stressed about social situations and start avoiding them.

So how would mindfulness help with this?

There is an ancient Buddhist parable about two arrows.

There are a lots of different versions of this online. It is about a conversation between the Buddha and his students. He asks them “if a person is walking in the woods and gets struck by an arrow, is it painful?” The students agree that it would be painful.

The Buddha asks, “If that person is then struck by a second arrow, is that even more painful?”

The students agreed that it would be more painful.

The Buddha then goes on to explain that the second arrow represents our reaction to the first. Whilst we cannot control what happens to us, it is possible to react in a way that doesn’t make our suffering worse.

How we react to the difficulties in our life can make our suffering or pain worse. Or according to an old Buddhist saying:- “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.”

Of course no one chooses to suffer. But our reactions to what has happened can cause more suffering. By reacting differently, in a way that benefits our wellbeing, we can create a better outcome.

Is mindfulness about religion?

No, you dont have to be spiritual to practice mindfulness.

Whilst mindfulness did originate in Buddhist philosophy, recent findings and the development of the Oxford Mindfulness Foundations’ Mindfulness for Life (MBCT) course are based on many years of scientific research.

MBCT stands for Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy. Cognitive Therapy (also called Cognitive Behaviour Therapy – CBT) has been used in therapy sessions for many years to help people change negative thought patterns.

This is important because our thoughts about a situation can affect our feelings. These feelings then go on to affect our actions and behaviour.

This combination of Mindfulness and Cognitive Therapy has been used to successfully treat anxiety and depression, as well as helping people to manage chronic pain.

How can mindfulness help with hearing loss?

Whilst mindfulness won’t help you to hear better, it can help you to change your negative thinking around your hearing loss. Here are some ways that mindfulness can help.

Stress reduction

Difficulty communicating and misunderstanding what people are saying causes frustration and anxiety, which can make any social interaction stressful. Regular mindfulness practice has been proven to reduce stress and anxiety. 

Improved Communication

Part of Mindfulness is about coming out of autopilot and being present in daily interactions. Instead of worrying about missing something in the conversation or worrying about what the other person will think if you ask them to repeat themselves, mindfulness can help you to be fully present and focused during the conversation. This can allow you to pick up on non verbal cues, as well as notice when you’re ‘switching off and nodding’ and come back to the conversation.

Acceptance

Having time to grieve for your hearing loss is important. But there comes a point where dwelling on your situation is just shooting yourself with another arrow.

Mindfulness teaches self-compassion, and helps you to accept your situation without judging yourself negatively or feeling overwhelmed. Once you can do this, it’s easier to find better ways to cope and adapt.

Better focus

Part of the teaching in mindfulness is about choosing what we pay attention to, and bringing our mind back to focus when we get distracted by other thoughts.

Practicing this regularly can improve concentration and attention span. This can support people with hearing loss as they need to use more cognitive energy in conversations. It can also help them to recognise when they need to have a break and avoid listening fatigue.

Well-being

There are many emotional challenges with hearing loss. Coping with your own feelings as well as dealing with the reactions of others. You may feel that you can’t do all the things you enjoy anymore. Perhaps you feel angry about what’s happened. Maybe you want to hide away.

Practicing mindfulness develops resilience, acceptance and coping skills that support your wellbeing. It also teaches new ways to approach stressful situations rather than being reactive or withdrawing.

It can be difficult to show ourselves compassion, or to stop judging ourselves.

But by treating yourself kindly you can avoid the pain of that second arrow.

Want to find out more about mindfulness?

I run two courses, Introduction to Mindfulness and Mindfulness for Life. Both courses have been developed by the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation.

They have been adapted for people with hearing loss, so there is less emphasis on sound and more on other senses. You don’t need to close your eyes for the practices so can lip read if you need to, and there are captions on Zoom sessions.

As well as a recording of each practice, after the session you will be given a transcript to help you practice between sessions.

If you’d like to find out more about mindfulness courses click here.