My myopic friends, why can't you hear clearly when you take off your glasses?

Review expert: Wang Xuejiang, professor at Capital Medical University

"What did you say? I'm not wearing my glasses, so I can't hear you clearly."

"I'm sorry I didn't hear you clearly. Please wait until I put on my glasses and say it again."

It may seem absurd that you can't hear clearly without glasses, but this is the personal experience of myopic people. When myopic people wear glasses, not only their vision is improved, but also the sounds they hear become clearer.

Why can't myopic people hear clearly when they take off their glasses? Does vision affect hearing? What is the relationship between them? What is going on?

The relationship between vision and hearing

Vision and hearing are both important senses. In the process of brain processing information, they are not only interrelated, but also influence and complement each other. This synergistic effect enables us to have a more comprehensive and accurate perception of the external environment.

The interaction between vision and hearing is reflected in many aspects. Vision can provide spatial information about the shape, color, size, position, etc. of an object, but vision is limited for objects hidden out of sight or in a dark environment. Hearing is not affected by light and obstacles and can capture sounds from all directions, thus making up for the shortcomings of vision.

Why can't I hear clearly without my glasses?

In fact, if myopic people cannot hear others speak clearly without wearing glasses, it is not because their vision directly affects their hearing, nor is it because their hearing is damaged, but because of the complex interaction between vision and hearing.

When myopic people take off their glasses, their visual information is affected and they cannot clearly see the other person's lip shape, facial expressions, gestures, etc., resulting in less information obtained through vision. At this time, the brain may allocate more attention to analyzing these blurred visual information and reduce the attention to auditory information, giving people the illusion that their hearing has deteriorated. Moreover, when vision is blurred, you need to concentrate more on hearing the other person's words clearly. This extra attention consumption may lead to a decrease in hearing perception ability.

In addition, when we perceive external information, we usually integrate visual and auditory information. When the brain processes the overall information, if the visual information is insufficient, it may also cause the feeling of unclear hearing.

Psychological factors may also cause hearing loss after taking off glasses. When wearing glasses, the field of vision is clear. When you suddenly take off your glasses, the change in vision may cause psychological discomfort. This suggestion may affect the individual's subjective perception of hearing, and then create the illusion of hearing loss.

Daily protection of vision and hearing

In daily life, protecting eyesight is very important.

We should pay attention to maintaining good eye habits, control the time of eye use, avoid bad eye environment, increase outdoor activities, minimize the time of continuous use of electronic devices, relieve eye pressure, and let the eyes get proper rest and relaxation. We should also arrange diet reasonably and eat more foods rich in vitamins and lutein, such as dark green vegetables, corn, egg yolks, etc.

In addition, regular vision examinations are required, especially for children and adolescents, who need to be informed of vision changes in a timely manner. If there are problems such as vision loss, medical diagnosis should be sought in a timely manner, and appropriate measures should be taken according to the doctor's advice to prevent further vision loss.

Similarly, hearing protection should not be neglected.

Hearing loss may make us more dependent on visual information to perceive the outside world, thus increasing the burden on the eyes. Therefore, we should try to reduce the time of exposure to high-decibel environments and wear protective tools such as earplugs when necessary. The volume should not be too high when using headphones, and we should also pay attention to ear hygiene and have hearing tests regularly.