I'm a hearing-impaired individual, but because I was born with this disability, I never researched it because it was never "new" and "exciting" to me, but a friend recently informed me that hearing-impaired individuals actually require more sleep than most because their brains are constantly operating on a higher level as they have to work harder to interpret sounds, etc. For most of my life, I have been on the lethargic side of things, but I was wondering if this is a factually accurate statement. It makes logical sense to me, but can someone point me in the direction of research?
On average, what is the optimal amount of sleep a hearing-impaired individual needs? When was this discovered?