S & P Topics Regarding Sensory Loss

ARTICLE #1

TITLE

4 Common Types of Hearing Problems:
Why they occur and what you can do about them

DESCRIPTION

This is a brief informative article that details types of hearing loss due to aging, disease, and medicines.  Related disorders such as vertigo and dizziness are also discussed.  This article can be used in the chapters on the senses as well as aging.  It is useful to understand the different types of hearing problems rather than believing that hearing loss is a unitary concept of “deafness.”

SOURCE

AARP The Magazine, April/May 2013, by Holly St. Lifer

LINK TO RESOURCE

http://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-04-2013/common-hearing-problems.html

(Tiny URL)  https://tinyurl.com/mh8flbh

ARTICLE #2

TITLE

Life Without a Sense of Smell

DESCRIPTION

This is a wonderful article to use for teaching and discussion as an adjunct to the Sensation and Perception chapter, and the students will find it a fascinating read as well.  It begins with a case of a man who loss his sense of smell due to an accident — he hit his head while playing ice hockey.  It then details the types of issues in his life with loss of smell, the collateral damage of the loss of taste, and details how it affects his relations in his personal life and work.  The article then moves to how smell is studied at the Monell Chemical Senses Center along with a description of the physiology of odor detection, and various types of research.  Rather than feeling it is “too scientific” the students will easily comprehend and appreciate the article.

SOURCE

Discover Magazine, August 04, 2015 , by Emma Young

LINK TO RESOURCE

http://discovermagazine.com/2015/sept/0-losing-smell

(Tiny URL)  https://tinyurl.com/oq6k79l

ARTICLE #3

TITLE

The Worst That Could Happen? Going Blind, People Say

DESCRIPTION

“A recent study from researchers at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that most Americans regard loss of eyesight as the worst ailment that could happen to them…”  This highly informative article discusses the major causes of loss of vision:  macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and cataracts.  Each disease is discussed in terms of their causes, how daily living is impaired, and possible “cures.”  “When eyesight fails, some people become socially disengaged, leading to isolation and loneliness. Anxiety about a host of issues — falls, medication errors, loss of employment, social blunders — is common.”  The article is well written, easy to comprehend, and can be used in both the chapters on vision and aging.

SOURCE

New York TImes, February 20, 2017, by Jane E. Brody

LINK TO RESOURCE

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/20/well/the-worst-that-could-happen-going-blind-people-say.html

(Tiny URL)  https://tinyurl.com/kv63a8y

CLASS DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

•Begin the lecture discussion with asking the students to enumerate all of the senses not just the 5 senses they learned in elementary school.

•What is the name for the loss of each of the senses?  (eg blindness, deafness, and so on)

•Why do Psychologists study the senses in such detail?

•What are the causes of sensory loss?  Are there “cures?”

•What are the psychological problems due to sensory loss including activities of daily living?