Women with noise-induced hearing loss: An invisible group?

Abstract

The aim of this qualitative study was to describe, from the perspective of women with noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), their experiences of noise as a threat to health and their having to live with a hearing disability, i.e. behaviours, thoughts and emotions in auditory demanding situations. Ten women, patients with NIHL at the Department of Audiology, Borás' Hospital in Sweden, were selected to form a heterogeneous sample. A taped in-depth interview, lasting from 45 minutes to 1 hour, was conducted with each woman. The verbatim transcribed interviews were consecutively analysed using a method influenced by the tradition of grounded theory. Four categories emerged in the process of analysis. These categories were labelled: lack of awareness, ambivalence, controlling and avoiding coping strategies and stigmatization. The category 'lack of awareness' concerned the women's perceptions of the risks of noise on hearing, the lack of efforts on the part of the women to apply for financial compensation for their NIHL, the lack of an awareness of individual's right to have healthy work-place and to receive professional help for hearing impairment. Also lacking was the concept that hearing impaired individuals have the right to participate in the community on similar conditions as non-hearing impaired people. This lack of awareness was identified as a core category relating to the other categories: ambivalence, controlling and avoiding coping strategies and stigmatization. The women's expressions indicated ambivalence concerning the cause of the hearing disability and, also, how to manage the consequences of it: the women in the study seemed to alternate between feelings of hopelessness/resignation and a state of acceptance of the hearing disability. Furthermore, the women alternated between blaming themselves and blaming others for the cause of the hearing loss, indicating a change between internal and external locus of control. Also, the women alternated between controlling and avoiding strategies in coping with demanding auditory situations. The coping strategy chosen by the women in a specific situation intended to prevent or minimize stigmatization, i.e. 'to pass as normal' and thereby to maintain a positive self-image of normality. Despite this, the women often perceived negative and stigmatizing attitudes from others, which reinforced their feelings of ambivalence in how to manage the situation. The hypothesis based on the present pilot study, that women with NIHL are more likely to pass themselves off as normal hearing and therefore might be less likely to be reported in studies of NIHL than men, needs to be further tested in a larger sample.

Stigma: A negative and a positive influence on help-seeking for adults with acquired hearing loss

“…Stereotypes about hearing loss can strain social exchanges and often lead to avoidance tendencies (Hallberg & Barrenas, 1995;Hallberg & Jansson, 1996). H é tu (1996) described how people with an acquired hearing loss often concealed hearing diffi culties and were reluctant to acknowledge hearing loss in some social settings.…”

“…It is therefore diffi cult for some people with hearing impairment to identify decline in their hearing ability, and this might serve to delay help-seeking (Garstecki, 1990;Gilhome et al, 1990). Acceptance of hearing loss into one ' s self/social identity is likely an important antecedent to an individual seeking help (Goffman, 1963;Hallberg & Jansson, 1996;H é tu, 1996). Hallberg and Jansson (1996) reported that (over time) some people move in and out of denial and acceptance of hearing loss.…”

What employees with rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus and hearing loss need to cope at work

“…Only one study addressed the perspective of employees with rheumatoid arthritis, the challenges they face at work, and the adaptations they need (10). With respect to hearing loss, some studies focused on social interactions at work, (11) while others only dealt with noise-induced hearing loss (12)(13)(14)(15) or registered the effects of early intervention from the doctor's perspective (16). Although there are many studies on work-related problems associated with diabetes mellitus, they do not relate to the patient's experience of working with a chronic illness, but focus on functional and mental abilities (17)(18)(19)(20)(21).…”

Hearing Impairment, Sense of Humour and Communication Strategies

“…They also found that more advanced HI was associated with frequent use of both non-verbal and verbal strategies, whereas we found that only verbal strategies were positively associated with advanced HI. Communication strategies have previously been studied in relation to the stigma attached to HI (Garstecki & Erler 1999), the ''communication climate'' (Hallberg & Jansson 1996), and one's own acceptance of HI (Hallberg, Johnson & Axelsson 1993). Even if such relations were beyond the scope of the present paper, they may explain why we found that degree of HI had low or no impact on use of verbal and nonverbal coping strategies, respectively.…”