The Acoustic Environment and People with Hearing Impairments during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Hearing impairment is a global concern that remains understudied and unaddressed. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic exacerbated auditory and healthrelated matters among people with hearing impairments. However, how the pandemic changed their acoustic environments and modified their soundscape experiences has yet to be reviewed. This systematized review aims to summarize unprecedented changes in acoustic environments experienced by people with hearing impairments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Papers related to pandemic soundscape experiences among individuals with hearing impairments, including hearing loss, tinnitus, and auditory-related symptoms, were selected for this review. The literature search was conducted in February 2023. Based on the qualitative summary of the nine included articles, this review shows that the increased quieting of everyday environments was observed among people with hearing impairments during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., lockdown periods). However, this pandemic quietness may have induced some adverse consequences: potentially degraded speech abilities for people with hearing loss and exacerbated the perceptions of tinnitus or misophonia due to the enhanced indoor noises. These findings suggest that the inclusion of the diverse auditory perceptions will be a key for the new normal soundscape agenda to proceed toward postpandemic era.