Abstract As the human body ages’ changes occur in the sensory system. This leads to loss or decline in vision, hearing, mobility, taste and smell. Changes in the eye’s structure or retina can lead to impaired vision. Atrophic changes within the sensory and neural systems can result in hearing loss. Medications and disease’s can cause a decreased ability to taste and smell.
Communication by text or e-mail can be accessed by having speech programmes installed on a computer or mobile telephone. Hearing loss interferes with face to face communication and can often cause older people to lose interest in everyday activities and in turn make them more likely to miss information given by their doctor, carer of family member. Older people who are losing their hearing often rely on their eyesight to compensate for this. In conversation they will watch the other person’s face and lips and use clues about the context to try to respond appropriately. However people who are losing both their hearing and their vision will find it difficult to look for clues in the conversation.
The significant impact of hearing loss on communication and interaction with others sometimes goes unrecognized by health care practitioners. Coping with hearing loss is different from other disabilities in that it is an invisible handicap. Individuals with normal haring often assume that simply saying something louder or turning up the volume will enable a hard of hearing elder to hear. Volume is not necessarily the issue difficulties with sound and word discrimination may be involved. The need to repeat or experiencing non sequitur responses adds to negative perceptions of older adults with hearing loss as being slow.
It also encompasses the hesitation or pausing before speech most commonly referred to by stutterers as “blocks”. Secondary behaviors associated with stuttering include eye blinking, jaw jerking, and head or other involuntary movements. This speech disorder occurs all around the world and like a calamity, it does not pick a specific race, gender, occupation, intelligence, status, or age to target. Stuttering may become self-treating, although it may also get worse and worse as time goes by. It may even be sporadic, appearing then disappearing then appearing again.
Unit 4222-258 – Introductory awareness of sensory loss A person with sensory loss will have problems receiving or interpreting information coming to them through one or more of the five senses. There are many factors that have an impact on individuals with sensory loss apply to all types of sensory loss. The factors that might have an impact on individuals with sensory loss are: • The person’s own beliefs about sensory loss, as wells as general health and abilities • Others’ attitudes and beliefs about people with sensory disabilities • Whether symptoms are noticed or ignored • Presence or lack of diagnosis of problems • Presence of lack of appropriate support services • Whether there is staff training in general or particular support skills • Availability or lack of appropriate support by carers in the person’s home environment • Whether there is appropriate support outside in society Many factors can have a positive or negative impact on the person with a sensory loss. The negative factors and the potential impact on individuals with a sensory loss are: • Having an attitude of ageism/disablism – sensory loss is expected and carers believe the condition won’t improve so it is assumed to be an untreatable part of an existing condition. The individual may have lived with untreated loss for so long that they are unwilling to undergo assessment or treatment • Lack of person-centred care – sensory loss is not noticed, or noticed but not properly diagnosed • Seeing individuals only in terms of present or past conditions – this is known as ‘Diagnostic overshadowing’ – a pre-existing condition such as mental illness leads to new symptoms being ignored, or an existing sensory loss may be known about but another loss develops that is missed or ignored.
So expressing themselves using body language may be difficult do to lack of cognitive control in their limbs, or hands. They may also show the same signs as Alzheimer’s disease. • Lewy bodies dementia is very similar to Alzheimer’s disease, the difference being that they may have hallucinations and become fearful. This will affect communication due to their behaviour may mean they are too scared to talk, or be spoken to. Physical and mental health factors need to be taken into account when communicating with someone with dementia, they may also be hard of hearing, or have limited eyesight.
When people have any sensory loss, their mobility and communication are greatly affected. There are some positives outcome that can have an impact on individuals that are suffering from sensory loss. On some people other senses can become more sensitive and perform better, for example their sense of smell or feeling of touch can improve. The negative effect of this can make it difficult for individuals to maintain self-esteem and can destroy their confidence, with the result that they will attempt less, rely on other people and potentially lose their independence. Any type of sensory loss can cause individuals to experience the ways in which society treats them differently.
What is sensory loss? Sensory loss takes place when a person’s sight or hearing becomes impaired. For some people who have been born with a hearing or sight impairment the term “loss” is inappropriate. However many people who have spent their lives hearing or seeing and will experience a sense of loss if these abilities are affected. Very few people are totally deaf or completely blind so design for sensory loss should be about supporting remaining ability as well as compensating by using other senses.
The Five barriers of communication and strategies to overcome them. Physical Disabilities (e.g. hearing problems, speech difficulties and blindness/vision impairments) For people with vision impairments, physical disabilities like hearing problems and speech difficulties effective communication can be very hard. For example when somebody is talking they may use signs or facial expressions or hand gestures to help explain what they’re saying, but for people who are visually impaired this can be difficult and sometimes impossible (e.g. blindness).
Barriers to communication Some of the many potential barriers to effective communication include: Sensory deprivation. A person may be unable either to receive or to pass on information because their senses are impaired. Often our clients have age-related hearing loss. To overcome this, one often has to speak loudly (without shouting) and clearly, reducing other noise (e.g. by turning the TV or radio down), or making sure that clients are using their hearing aids.