Spent an interesting day last week talking to the St Albans Macular Group which represents sufferers with Age Related Macular Degeneration (known as AMD), a condition which develops from a change in the structure of a tiny area on the retina at the back of the eye. People notice that their vision becomes dull and blurred when looking directly in front. In some cases they also experience “phantom images” (called Charles Bonnet Syndrome) which is linked to how the brain inaccurately processes information from the eye.
In my background research for the talk, I uncovered a whole series of facts where I could draw direct parallels between sight and hearing and this gave me the basis for my talk.
I suggested that these phantom images could be likened to tinnitus – where phantom sounds are heard for similar reasons.
Many of the attendees had diminished hearing in addition to AMD and they could appreciate the correlation between hearing & sight.
We recommend that anyone with impaired vision and hearing should address their hearing difficulty as well as todays hearing aid technology will allow. If sight is impaired, this affects how well someone can lip read – an essential component for anyone to help understand speech in the presence of background noise or other voices.
If you belong to a group and would like to arrange for us to give a talk, please get in contact.