What Is Sensory Loss?
Sensory loss is where you lose the ability to hear or see. Commonly, when people are talking about sensory loss, they’re actually referring to dual-sensory loss. Here, you lose the ability to both see and hear. Sometimes, this is called deafblindness, and there are many different types of it.
What Types Of Sensory Loss Are There?
There’s no restriction on when someone can suffer from a sight or hearing impairment. Some children are born with sensory loss, while other people won’t develop it until they’re adults. Generally speaking, most individuals that have this problem will fall into one of the following categories:
- Congenital deafblindness: this condition refers to children that are born with both sight and hearing impairments. They don’t need to show signs of this right away, but it’s classified as congenital deafblindness if they develop dual-sensory loss before they’ve gained the ability to speak.
- Acquired deafblindness: if you are born with the ability to see and hear properly, but you suddenly gain dual-sensory loss later in life, then you have acquired deafblindness. The precise definition of this is anyone with sight/hearing loss that comes after they’ve learned how to speak.
- Usher syndrome: this is a medical condition that relates to both your hearing and vision, along with your balance. Typically, this is a genetic condition that’s passed down through generations.
- CHARGE: lastly, we have another condition that’s passed down through gene mutations. This isn’t specific to sensory loss as it can also cause problems with your heart, nose, and broader health. However, people with this condition will usually develop some degree of sensory loss as well.
As you can see, many things may cause a sensory loss in individuals. It’s something that can start from the moment you exit the womb or develop later on as the result of another condition.
It’s also important to note that many people can suffer from sensory loss because of their old age. We know that the older someone gets, the worse their senses become. It’s highly common for your eyesight to deteriorate dramatically once you reach 65 years of age. Hearing loss also comes alongside this as the sensory cells in your inner ear become damaged – which essentially means they ‘die’ and no longer work.
Consequently, it’s common to suffer from both vision and hearing loss at the same time, meaning you have dual-sensory loss. What’s interesting about this is that hardly anyone classifies this as sensory loss because it’s seen as just a regular occurrence as we age. But, if you’re over 65 and have both hearing and vision problems, then you will benefit from our sensory loss care services.
What Are The Problems With Sensory Loss?
The two obvious issues with sensory loss are that you lose the ability to see and hear clearly. This means that a range of daily tasks instantly become much harder to do. You may have difficulty driving, and your hearing/vision could be so weak that you’re legally no longer allowed to drive. Social situations can become a very hard place for you as you spend all your time asking people to repeat themselves while struggling to really make sense of your surroundings because of your poor vision. Likewise, something as simple as going for a walk becomes much more challenging when your sight and hearing are impaired.
As such, it’s easy to slip into a bout of depression or anxiety because you’re self-conscious about your sensory problems. This is particularly common in young people who suffer from this condition. Children may also find it harder to attend school because they need special assistance, which makes them feel even more cut off from the rest of the world.
How Can We Help With Sensory Loss?
The bad news is that sensory loss is often incurable. Therefore, it’s something you must learn to live with. The good news is that we can help you with this. Home Caring offers extensive support services for anyone suffering from sensory loss. We go the extra mile to ensure that every single member of our care team receives the right training in this field. We make sure that they know everything about sensory loss, which allows them to offer the best guidance possible.
We have plenty of experience in this line of work, and we’ve helped many people with varying degrees of sensory loss. There’s no point in trying to handle this on your own; come to us, and we’ll support you in every possible way.
If you want to know what we can do for you, then here’s a brief overview of our sensory loss care services:
- We provide you with personal care that’s specifically designed to help you with your particular type of sensory loss
- Our carers will visit you whenever you want, meaning you don’t have to move into a specialist care facility
- You get access to a team that is specially trained to work with sensory loss
- A completely unique support plan is created for you – this ensures that all your wants and needs are met, to help improve the quality of your life
- 24/7 support whenever you need it
- Additional help with specific tasks – this includes assistance with social activities, sports, and so on
- A complete assessment of your condition to understand the best approach to take before any care begins
Furthermore, we also provide advice and support for anyone who’s living with someone suffering from sensory loss. We appreciate that it can be difficult understanding how to cope when someone you love loses the ability to hear or see. It can feel frustrating when you try and communicate with them, which leads to you feeling bad about feeling frustrated! As a result, there can be an increased strain on your relationship.
If you live with someone – or regularly come into contact with someone – who suffers from dual-sensory loss, then we have some communication tips that you must consider.
- Firstly, get their attention – this can easily be done by touching their arm, so they know you’re there
- Secondly, make it obvious who you are, so they know who they’re talking to
- Next, speak as clearly as you can, exaggerating your lip movements slightly. Doing this helps them read your lips so they can make sense of what you’re trying to say. You should raise the volume of your voice slightly but never shout. Shouting will only make you seem aggressive, which you don’t want at all
- Always ensure that the person can see your face while you talk – so avoid covering your mouth or turning away from them
- Don’t get frustrated if you have to repeat the things you just said – it’s not their fault if they don’t understand you at the first attempt
The most important thing to understand is that communication will be harder than it used to. This applies to people suffering from sensory loss and the people trying to communicate with them. But, with a little time and patience, you’ll soon adapt to the situation and manage to communicate effectively with one another once more.
Contact Us For Sensory Loss Care
The best way to handle sensory loss is to look for professional care services. At Home Caring, we can give you everything you need to make your way through this tricky period in your life. You may find that your need for care lessens as you get used to living with sensory loss. The beauty of our service is that we don’t just provide a one-size-fits-all approach. You can adapt things to your needs, meaning you only ever pay for car services that you actually need.
Call us today if you want to learn more about what we can do for you. Our team will provide you with a more detailed explanation of this service, and we can even arrange the initial assessment for you. We’re committed to helping people improve their quality of life by offering at-home care services that don’t take away their independence. If you’ve got any questions relating to this service, then please don’t hesitate to ask. We’re always happy to help, so give us a call, and we’ll take things from there.
