The meaning of hearing impairment for elderly Japanese

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to comprehend, through interviews based on a semi-structured script, the meaning of hearing impairment to elderly Japanese immigrants who continue to use Japanese as their main language. Eight people from 68 to 97 years of age who have lived in Brazil for over 40 years were interviewed. The respondents had diagnosed hearing impairments and a poor command of the Portuguese language. The interviews followed a semi-structured script, requesting testimonies of each one´s life history, focusing on particulars of their immigration to Brazil, their relationship with the Japanese and Portuguese languages, their social relations both in the past and today, and their relationship with the hearing impairment. The results revealed that the complaints and limitations deriving from the hearing impairment do not have a central bearing on their lives. The difficulty in communicating is not attributed to the hearing impairment itself but rather to the lack of command of the Portuguese language. We could emphasize the importance of the family unit as a factor that mitigates the handicap and that distinguishes the hearing-impaired elderly Japanese from other elderly individuals with the same disorder.