“My hearing has been heightened almost to the point of painfulness.”
– by Agnes Houston
“Hi everybody, it’s Agnes again. Yes, on the topic of sensory, I wanted to talk about my sense of hearing. Since my diagnosis with dementia they talk about the losses you get with dementia, and yes, there have been many losses, but not so with my hearing. My hearing has been heightened almost to the point of painfulness.
For example, I can be out having a meal, you know, you’re in a social setting, the noise gets louder, and people get more wine with their meal, and it’s just like a crescendo, I can’t stand it. And I just want to finish the meal and get away. I have tried between, if it gets bad, going outside, taking a walk and then coming back inside, but no, that doesn’t help me. When I go back in, the noise seems almost louder.
In Glasgow I went around restaurants asking for quiet areas. I couldn’t understand they had children’s areas, but they never had quiet areas, it seemed quite disheartening. Why not have quiet, intimate areas where you can just enjoy the company without all the bombardment of loud music and banging of dishes and noises? That’s just a thought.
The other thing was I remember we were at a conference in Glasgow and we were both standing against a wall, trying to, in fact I had one hand over my ear, and I had a painful look across my face, and he said he gets it too. It’s good to know that you’re not alone.
Sometimes my family, I think, and friends thought I was becoming strange and I was becoming grumpy and antisocial and that, but it wasn’t, it was just my environment wasn’t suitable for me and I didn’t know how to cope with it, and my answer was just to get away. But I was doing it in an antisocial way. I was just standing up and saying ‘I can’t stand this’ and going out, because I didn’t know how else to cope with it.
I choose very carefully where I go now, try to go at the quieter times even when I’m shopping, which is another horrific experience with the sensory overload. I can’t understand why shops play loud loud noises, it’s just too much. All I know is it’s one of the most painful experiences of my life, it’s a kind of torture. Maybe that’s not politically correct now.
Oh there’s lot I could tell you about hearing and hyperacusis, and how it interferes with my social life, but I think that’s enough from me. Thank you!”
