The question is simple: Do your ears “turn off” when you fall asleep? Obviously, the answer is no, since alarm clocks wouldn’t work if that were the case. And we’ve all experienced the phenomenon of incorporating sounds from the outside world into our dreams.
But I’ve also experienced what seemed like temporary deafness when I’ve nodded off. For example, let’s say I’m in a car. The predominant sound is that of the car going over the pavement. If I nod off, the reawaken really soon, I’ll have the distinct impression that the sound of the car disappeared for a little less than a second. It’s as if someone hit the mute button for a really short time.
You certainly don’t lose the ability to hear, I’ve certainly woken up out of a very sound sleep from a very meek, “help” from my wife during an illness she once had. I woke up and was catching her as she fell through the doorway to the bedroom. It was a call to action that fast.
My wife certainly hears me snore, and hears the baby when she cries.
I know what you mean about that moment of “deafness” when you’re waking up. For me, it comes right before a rush of sound when everything seems really loud. For example, I’m watching TV at a normal volume, fall asleep and then as I wake up it seems like the sound is much, much louder than when I was watching earlier.
I also have very selective hearing when I’m sleeping. There’s been heavy construction outside my bedroom window for three years now. I’ve learned to sleep through jackhammers, beeping trucks, explosions, dropped metal panels, and all the rest. But if my baby snorks in her sleep and pauses breathing, I’m wide awake and holding her in my arms before I realize I even heard anything. I don’t even remember getting out of bed to pick her up, but there I am, with my husband (not asleep) telling me what I did. (Such are the things that lead me to believe in psychic or energetic connections between parents and children.)
I dunno. I’d guess it has more to do with the nerves that transmit sound messages to our brains than with our actual ears, though.
Your brain (well, everybody’s brain) filters sensory input while asleep. I have slept through alarm clocks before. I have also slept through all kinds of noise but also awakened to other softer sounds that required attention, like butler. Like slept through thunderstorms but awakened to the baby crying down the hall. I have even awakened in the middle of the night several times to find my young daughter merely standing next to my bed being so quiet she was the quitest thing in the room. Still haven’t figured out what woke me up.
What’s weird is that that selectivity can be confined to one particular noise. For instance, my wife and I can sleep right through one thunderstorm but be awakened by the next one that comes along. In fact, it’s almost like we take turns. I’ll wake up one morning and ask my wife, “Did you hear that thunderstorm last night?” and she’ll say no. Then the next time, she hears it and I don’t.
