Do you ever wake up in the morning full of the faint and retreating memories of your dream life? Everyone dreams, but not everyone remembers it. What causes some people to remember their dreams more than other people? Well, sleep expert Julie Lambert explains that “There’s a region in your brain called the temporoparietal junction, which processes information and emotions. This region can also put you in a state of intra-sleep wakefulness, which, in turn, allows your brain to encode and remember dreams better,” In a study published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology it has been suggested that what allows people to remember their dreams more than other may be as simple as having more activity in the temporoparietal junction.
The Senses as We Dream
What do we take back from the dreaming world? For many it’s just the memories of surreal events. For others it’s often smells, sights, feel or even sound that lingers on. This posed the question to some researchers as to what it would be like for those with a hearing impairment to dream differently than those with normal hearing. The results may surprise you!
Do People with Hearing Loss Dream Differently?
Because dreams are perceived it’s always been a source of curiosity to record how they occur and why. For instance, do people born blind dream in vision or do people born deaf hear in their dream life?
In a 2011 study, researching the connection between hearing loss and dreams found that those with a hearing loss can in fact dream in sound. Researchers interviewed 14 people with hearing impairments, asking each one about their dreams. The participants reported that they in fact could still hear in their dreams despite limits in hearing ability within the waking world.
In a 2016 study published in Dreaming, researchers explored the differences that hearing impairments can have on dreaming. By interviewing over 400 high school students, 86 students of which had hearing loss and 344 students with normal hearing, the researchers noted striking differences.
The students with hearing loss reported significantly increased vivid dreams which also included a richness across sensors such as smell, taste, pain, and even temperature changes. The students also seemed to report a number of emotions while dreaming, including anger, fear, hope, and surprise. Students with hearing loss within this study also seemed to have greater ease in recalling their dreams and reported higher instances of lucid dreaming.
Meanwhile the group with normal hearing—While they reported a range of sensations and feelings while dreaming, it was with a notable lower frequency, however, sound was often much more prominent than in those with hearing loss.
Sensory Compensation
Sensory compensation is often described as the increased ability in one sensory modality to compensate for the lack of another sense. In the case of dreaming, the loss of hearing could signal more vivid dreams with heightened sensations within the other senses.
It is very common for those with hearing loss to rely on visual cues for compensation in communication, much like hearing and feeling become heightened in those with vision issues. While it’s well established that sensory compensation occurs all the time while we are awake , many studies like this one show that this type of compensation follows us into our sleep and our dream life.
Untreated Hearing Loss
You may have a hearing loss and not even know it. This is due to the fact that hearing loss often develops gradually. To stay on top of your hearing health, it’s recommended that you schedule regular hearing exams. Unaddressed and untreated hearing loss can easily turn into communication issues, chronic depression, loneliness and self-isolation. In addition it affects how our brain works, contributing to cognitive decline and the increased risk of dementia.
Schedule a Hearing Test
If you’ve been waking up with wild dreams rich in color, smell and loaded with emotions it could signal not only a vivid dream life, but the possibility of hearing loss. Once you wake up and are ready to face the day, take steps to take hearing loss seriously. Start by scheduling a hearing exam with us today. We can test your hearing and find the hearing solution of your dreams!
