Vision and Hearing Impairment

: Vision and Hearing Impairment

Vision Impairment

Visual difficulties have a profound impact on older people's self-confidence and everyday behavior (Berk, 2010 p. 568). Eyesight, as noted in the interviews conducted, does begin to deteriorate over time. As it does decrease it becomes more and more apparent how much one relies on their sight to accomplish many of their daily activities. As stated by Berk, the impairment of eyesight in late adulthood results largely from a reduction of light reaching the retina which is usually caused by a yellowing of the lens, shrinking of the pupil, and clouding of the vitreous. Other contributing factors Berk pointed out are cell loss in the retina and optic nerve and the decrease in visual acuity. This usually changes one's ability to enjoy certain activities, such as watching a movie, enjoying a day at the museum, being able to see a grandchild's performance or even recognize family members. Without being able to see things at a distance clearly one cannot enjoy many leisure activities as one once did. Although vision correction can be made with corrective lens (eyeglasses), often time's surgery is a more successful choice when attempting to make a significant correction and possibly bring vision as close to what it was in previous years. "A decline in binocular vision (the brains ability to combine images received from both eyes) makes depth perception less reliable" (Berk, p. 568). This particular problem is crucial when taking into consideration the ability to continue driving. If one can no longer distinguish distance and distinguish figures in the dark it can become extremely dangerous for them to drive. It puts them at risk and society. This is another contributing factor that eventually takes away from one's ability to be self-sufficient and maintain their daily activities. Vision does not only affect one leisure activities, it has a large impact on self-care. With the inability to see, many things can be over looked, such as signs of disease, cuts and bruising and simply overall hygiene.

Hearing Loss

Hearing