Barbara:
Actually, anyone who is compromised in one ear has difficulty locating the sound, for example, if stuffed up from a cold. This is due to the volume of the sound perceived by each ear. Unfortunately, the acoustic neuroma group have to deal with it all of the time; it's part of the package.
A more disconcerting aspect of an acoustic neuroma is the "quality" of the sounds we hear. A major hearing loss in one ear is due to cochlea nerve damage and produces few signals to the brain from that ear. And the little information it does send contains a lot of "noise†because of the damaged 8th cranial nerve. It’s getting signals, but they don’t make sense. There is yet another problem.
Over the past eight years, it has become obvious to me that the difference between the sounds coming in the right and left ear is just as important as the volume of sound in each ear. If I am out in my yard, not only is the direction of most sounds lost, so is the identification of the sound, for example, was it the neighbor’s lawnmower or a jet flying overhead?
A major consequence of this phenomenon is distinguishing what others are saying, especially if they are not talking directly at us or tend to mumble. It is very difficult to understand what they are saying; it isn’t crisp and clear, it’s muddy. Add tinnitus to the mix and it’s very difficult to hear anybody, especially in a room full of people, when near a fan, in traffic, etc.
You will get use to the limits of monaural hearing in time, we all do; just be aware that there might also be a problem identifying the sound, hopefully not, when listening to others. My family and friends quickly tired of my â€what†or “huh†response every time they didn’t talk directly at me.
