Disabling Senses: Hearing

This is the last blog post in which I'm focusing on our senses and how they can be disabling. Each one will focus on one of the five senses (touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing), and this week I'll be talking about hearing!

Hearing is probably the sense I struggle to describe most, which is why it was last on my list of senses. It's hard for me to understand to what limit my hearing is disabling. Sometimes, I have the power to overhear what I probably shouldn't have. Other times, I must ask for simple directions to be repeated because I have no idea what was just said. Sometimes I can barely hear while other times I am overwhelmed by the medium volume on the TV. There are a lot of ways in which I consider hearing to be disabling.

Loudness

Loudness is probably what most people think of when it comes to disabling hearing. You either hear, or you can't. You wait for grandma's hearing aids to kick in, hoping she'll hear what you've been repeating to her for the last minute. You watch a Deaf of hard-of-hearing person use ASL, confused. Most people probably don't think of hearing being disabling when you are super sensitive to noise level.

You know how us middle-aged people wear earplugs and sounds mufflers when we attend loud concerts or go to the shooting range? There are people who have to wear earplugs or mufflers most of the time when they are in public or at work. Some loud noises can be merely distracting while other loud noises can make you jump out of your seat in shock. I've been grateful for earplugs that reduce noise that isn't right next to me so I can hear my friends but block out the rest of what I believe takes years off my life due to the jump scares of loud noises. I use Loop, if you're looking for a helpful earplug.

However, loudness is only one way for hearing to be disabling.

ear next to visualized sound waves, from audible.com

Tone & Pitch

In addition to noise level, tone and pitch can also be disabling. As a child, my voice was extremely high pitched. Nicknames such as Squirrelly or Squeaky were unoriginally attached to my name in middle school. Now that I'm an adult, I understand how certain voices can be disabling or at the very least, annoying. Combine loudness with high pitch and the experience is just a few steps below tinitus (the constant ringing in your ears). I've always been picky with country music, and as an adult realized it was the high pitch of some twangy instruments that made certain songs and artists difficult to listen to. It's wild how much of a range of sounds can differently impact human listeners.

Hearing

Altogether, hearing has become very helpful for me. In the last few years, my sensitivity to light and eyesight problems have made reading all the time difficult for me. I started using text-to-speech software as well as listening to audio books. It's pretty great. Thankfully, the voice I love most is the most common, recorded years ago (Samantha). I've gotten so used to using my ears to "read" that my typical audio speed is between 2.5 to 3x speed (meaning I can finish my texts as if I was skimming with my eyes). Hearing can be disabling, but it has proven to be useful for me as I struggled with other senses. Still, sometimes I can be oversensitive to sound.

What about you? How has hearing been disabling or enabling in your life?

#IDMD #IDisappointMyDad #disablingsenses #hearing #earplugs #loop #sound #deafness #texttospeech #ASL