Dear hearing people, just because I wear hearing aids doesn’t mean I have bionic hearing.
Although there was this one time as a kid that I thought I had superpowers because of my hearing aids. The world was always louder after a visit to the audiologist.
My hearing aids would get a lil’ tune-up and cleaning. And suddenly I was hearing the conversations of classmates 4 rows over. On realizing that I was essentially eavesdropping on conversations, a couple classmates decided to put my “new abilities” to the test, like asking me if I could hear them from across a field to “spying” on teachers down the hall.
Yea, we learnt real quick, the limitations of said superpower.
Here’s the thing – wearing hearing aids only amplifies the sounds I could somewhat hear, without them. It also helps me pick up some sounds I have difficulty hearing. And while hearing aids amplify sound, clarity is not always included.
For example, I don’t hear low tones very well. Without hearing aids, I barely pick them up, with them, however, the sound is amplified but muffled.
So, what that means is, in any given conversation with most men I am actively willing my eardrums into their mouth, squinting with extreme focus and lip reading like crazy. And this happens more if they have voices like Keith David (from television series Greenleaf).
Thank God for captions!
So, often times when I ask people to repeat themselves, the issue is not volume but deciphering what the sound means.
So instead of speaking louder hearing people, you may just need to enunciate.
