About
What is it?
Auditory or hearing disorders include impairments that affect your hearing. This can be congenital hearing impairment, but also, for example, hypersensitivity to sounds (hyperacusis), tinnitus and hearing loss, for example due to Ménière's disease. Auditory impairments manifest themselves in various forms such as not being able to understand sounds that are too loud/soft/high or too low. Problems with speaking after deafness, experiencing pain with loud/high sounds or the occurrence of comprehension problems due to the hearing impairment. Your hearing disorder may also affect your concentration and focus.
How much impact your hearing impairment has on your studies depends, of course, on the extent of your auditory impairment and the study you are taking. Problems that are common include:
- Not being able to attend lectures;
- Difficulty finding a suitable internship;
- Not being able to keep up with working groups;
- Carrying out instructions around practical work immediately.
What can you do yourself?
Having trouble following a lesson? If so, don't be afraid to speak to the teacher yourself. Often, a teacher does not know about your problem and can make himself better understood through small adjustments. Also make an appointment with a student counselor to see if other facilities can be requested for you.
A few more tips to make studying with a hearing impairment easier:
- Make sure you sit close to the lecturer during lessons;
- After a lesson, ask fellow students if you can copy all their notes;
- Take a course in speech understanding (lip reading) with a speech therapist. The best way to do this is to make an appointment with your general practicioner first, with a referral you will usually get reimbursed by your health insurance company.