Chapter Project: (remember that chapter projects should take you about three hours) For this project, you will submit a report in the form of an essay or numbered or bulleted answers to the questions.

The report should address the following:

To simulate deafness, put ear plugs or cotton balls into your ears and put your hands over your ears to block out all sound. Describe this experience in terms of how it changed your perceptions of your environment and how it made you feel. What are some things you would miss if you couldn't hear? How would it change the way you live your life?
In a library or online, research common causes of preventable hearing loss in younger people. Young people tend to take their hearing for granted, but once hearing is damaged, you can't restore the hearing loss without the use of a hearing aid or cochlear implant. What's more, hearing loss is painless, and develops so slowly you may not even notice it until it's severe. Name at least five places where you could be exposed to loud noises. Look up how loud each of these noises is. Are any of them in the harmful range? List at least five things you could do to reduce your risk of hearing loss in those settings. Cite the URLs for any Web sites you consult.
Think about what it would be like to wear a hearing aid. Hearing aids are good at capturing different frequencies, but they're not perfect. How would it affect your conversations with friends? On the phone? There are waterproof hearing aids, but most aren't waterproof; what if you wanted to go swimming with your friends? Research the care of a hearing aid. What would you need to do to take care of your hearing aid? How much do hearing aids cost, and does insurance cover them? Cite the URLs for any web sites you consult.
Now, say you're an audiologist. A patient comes in complaining of hearing loss that is worse in one ear. What tests would you perform and why? The answers are found in this lesson.
Finally, research cochlear implants. How do they work? Who gets them? What is the future outlook for cochlear implants? Cite the URLs for any Web sites you consult.