Webinar: Transitional Sound and the Hidden Work of Hearing Impairment
Handicap
New hearing aids are expected to improve hearing. For most people, they do. But what if “better sound” does not immediately feel better? What if experienced users — people who have worn hearing aids for years — suddenly feel disoriented, vulnerable, or cut off from others? Some for a short amount of time, others for longer. In clinical practice, this period is often described as acclimatization. But our research suggests something more is at stake.
In this webinar hosted by researchers from CFD Research and Development, we introduce the concept of Transitional Sound: a psycho-social understanding of the uncertain period between old and new hearing aids.
Based on qualitative interviews with 24 experienced hearing aid users in Denmark, the webinar examines how new hearing aids do not merely amplify sound — they can temporarily destabilize one’s sense of orientation, self-trust, and social connection.
We ask:
- Why is the transition between old and new hearings aids so difficult?
- How does it feel to be in this transitional period?
- How can we understand this period theoretically?
- And why is the effort of coping with new sound — the hearing labor — largely invisible?
Drawing on Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology, Science and Technology Studies, and Victor Turner’s concept of liminality, we argue that this transition is existential and profound, and for some quite challenging.
Using Transitional Sound as key to gain understanding into life with hearing loss and hearing aids, may change how we understand support, expectations, and responsibility in hearing rehabilitation.
This webinar is relevant for audiologists, hearing care professionals, rehabilitation specialists, researchers, and decision-makers in the field of hearing loss. It may also be relevant for individuals with hearing impairment and their relatives.
PROGRAMME
- Welcome
- Better technology, uncertain experience
- What is Transitional Sound?
- Voices from experienced users
- From acclimatization to hearing labor
- Discussion and Q&A
Del
