Loss of hearing
I have an aunt who lives in a different state of mine. During a visit to her place two years ago, I noticed that she had difficulty in hearing. Communicating to her was a challenge since it required one to raise their voices to the extent of shouting, communicate in short phrases, or even at some point; one was forced to repeat what they have said. After the visit, I inquired from my mum what happened to her, and she told me that my aunt developed a hearing problem during labor when she was giving birth.
During that time, I was not able to fully comprehend how that could have happened. However, on learning this course, I realized that loss of hearing could be as a result of several factors and may affect a person at any age. There are different forms of hearing loss. They include; a sensorineural hearing loss which stems from the breakdown of the auditory nerve that originates from the inner ear and runs to the brain. Another form of hearing loss is conductive hearing loss, which mainly occurs during childhood, and it is usually as a result of malformation of the outer ear. Auditory processing disorder is also a form of loss of hearing that occurs due to the breakdown of the nervous system.
Armed with this information, I was able to realize that my aunt could have suffered from sensorineural hearing loss. Information learned in this class, especially on hearing loss and various types of hearing loss have aided me in realizing my passion for being a hearing scientist. In the future, I would like to be one of the top researchers on matters concerning speech, hearing, and language.