Did you know that where you are looking may influence how well you hear? A recent study published in Scientific Reports looked at the effect of gaze direction on hearing, with some interesting results. They found that the brain needs to work harder to hear when we are looking away from what we are listening to. This happened even when participants were put in a dark room and asked to either direct their gaze at a speaker in front of them or look away. When they looked away the researchers found that the participant’s reaction times were slower, and their brain was more active (working harder to listen for the sound).
What this says is that our eyes and ears work together more than we may realize. Looking at what you are listening to helps you hear it better. It is believed that the brain expects us to be looking at what we are listening to, and it has to work harder to fix the misalignment when we are not looking at the sound source.
For everyday listening, this means it will be easier to follow a conversation if we are looking at the people, we are speaking to rather than trying to listen when they are behind us or in another room. This is especially important for people with hearing loss, where the ability to follow conversation is already compromised. Being able to see someone’s face also provides us with nonverbal cues that help us determine what they are saying.
Vision and hearing are linked in several ways that help you perceive your environment:
- Speech: Seeing someone's lip movements can help you understand what they are saying, especially in noisy environments.
- Predictions: When you hear a sound, your visual cortex can use that information to predict what you might see. For example, if you hear a motorbike approaching, you might expect to see it turning the corner.
- Location: Your eyes and ears work together to help your brain match up where sights and sounds are located. This system allows your brain to process visual and auditory signals as electrical currents, which can result in magnetic waves
Your eyes and ears are also physically connected by nerve pathways that are responsible for the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR), which helps keep you balanced.
For example, when you close your eyes, what do you see? What passes before your shut eyes likely depends on the sounds you hear. Research from the Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of Glasgow has measured how your brain’s visual cortex uses information gleaned from your ears, as well as your eyes, in order to see the world.
Sounds help create visual imagery, mental images, and automatic projections. For example, if you are in a street and you hear the sound of an approaching motorbike, you expect to see a motorbike coming around the corner. The visual cortex uses information gleaned from the ears to better predict what might be seen.
Just as your ears and eyes work together to help you create a complete view of your world, they also work hand-in-hand to keep you balanced.
Balance and equilibrium help us stay upright when standing and know where we are in relation to gravity. Our balance system, also known as the vestibular system, helps us walk, run, and move without falling. Balance is controlled through signals to the brain from your eyes, the inner ear, and the sensory systems of the body (such as the skin, muscles, and joints).
If the vestibular system is not functioning properly, your eye muscles cannot adjust as they should because the feedback indicators from the ear are damaged, resulting in blurred vision, nausea, or dizziness. This means that you cannot accurately determine where the floor is in relation to where you are, and the risk of tripping increases vastly.
Human intuition tells us that our senses are all separate streams of information, but we now know that isn’t the case. Ensure you are hearing your best and helping the rest of your senses with a regular hearing assessment.
Source: Medicaldaily.com, ASHA.org, Generalhearing.com.
- Hearing actually enhances the sense of sight, according to a UCLA study, with both working to help you perceive and participate in the world around you. In the study, which ran participants through a series of trials to correctly identify the direction in which a display of dots was moving, hearing the direction in which the dots were traveling enhanced participants’ ability to see the direction.
- Visually impaired older adults are more likely to also experience hearing loss, per a study published in the medical journal JAMA Ophthalmology. Researchers investigating links between age-related vision and hearing problems discovered, even after taking age into account, that the two conditions were linked, with “a cumulative effect on function and well-being, significantly affecting both physical and mental domains.”
- Vision and hearing loss go hand in hand with cognitive decline, according to research showing that each condition is somehow connected to reduced mental functioning over time. One study, referenced in a news article, found that participants with the most profound vision impairment had the lowest average scores on cognition tests. And seniors with hearing loss may experience significantly reduced cognitive function at least three years before their peers who do not have hearing loss.
- Healthy eyes and ears — along with joints, muscles, and brain — help keep you steady on your feet, reducing your risk of falling. It’s pretty obvious that seeing your best helps you stay upright, but many people do not realize that the inner ear also plays an important role in maintaining balance. Conversely, untreated hearing loss may nearly triple your risk of falling, per a Johns Hopkins study.
Hearing and vision work together to help you live your best life, so remember to keep them both in top shape.
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