Is Online Learning Causing Listening Fatigue for Hearing-Impaired Students?
Do you find that your child is exhausted after a day of virtual classes, and doesn’t want to wear their cochlear implants or hearing aids afterward? If so, they may be experiencing listening fatigue.
We recently noticed our son struggling with online school. He was showing behaviors we hadn’t seen in a long time—getting agitated easily, complaining more often, and frequently removing his cochlear implant processors.
We’ve written before about why a child might resist wearing their implants, including equipment issues and overstimulation. So we scheduled a visit to our audiologist to get his devices checked and re-mapped.
That’s when we learned something new: online learning itself can lead to listening fatigue, especially in children with hearing loss who are trying to process speech through a computer.
What Is Listening Fatigue?
Listening fatigue happens after prolonged auditory effort. For people with hearing loss, even normal listening can be mentally draining. Symptoms include:
Tiredness and discomfort
Irritability or mood swings
Difficulty focusing
Reduced stamina or attention span
Imagine your brain like a phone battery. When too many apps are open, or it’s constantly searching for a signal, the battery dies faster. Similarly, your brain tires more quickly when it’s working overtime to interpret unclear or degraded audio signals.
This is especially true in online learning environments, where sound is compressed, distorted, or poorly delivered through speakers or microphones.
Research Confirms the Risk
Studies show that children with hearing loss are more vulnerable to cognitive fatigue (Bess et al., 1998; Hornsby et al., 2013). A 2018 article in Ear and Hearing explains how understanding degraded speech takes more brainpower, leaving fewer resources for learning and memory.
Unfortunately, virtual learning exacerbates this issue. According to a Washington Post article (Nov. 2020), failing grades surged in virtual classrooms, particularly among at-risk and disabled students.
What Can Parents and Teachers Do?
To reduce listening fatigue, the delivery of content matters just as much as the content itself. Here are some suggestions:
Use more visual and interactive tools instead of long verbal lectures.
Request transcripts of videos when appropriate.
If transcripts don’t work for your child, ask for visual breakdowns of video content.
For math, request color-coded steps or diagrams.
Encourage frequent breaks to rest the brain and ears.
Ask teachers to use captions and high-quality microphones when possible.
Most importantly, talk to your child’s educators. Explain that listening through digital platforms is harder for hearing-impaired students. If your child has an IEP, this is a critical time to review accommodations and make adjustments.
Final Thoughts
Listening is an active, demanding task—especially for children with hearing loss. While properly fitted devices like hearing aids and cochlear implants can help reduce cognitive load (Hornsby, 2013), distance learning introduces new challenges.
Parents shouldn’t be expected to redesign the curriculum. But together—with teachers, audiologists, and support staff—we can create a learning environment that works with our children's needs, not against them.
Until our kids return to the classroom, let’s do what we can to minimize the impact of listening fatigue and support their success in every way possible.
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