Jill's Jottings June 2015
I had a chuckle over an article which appeared in the latest Deafness Forum Australia newsletter 'One in Six' so will share it with you. It was written by Gael Hannan, Editor of Better Hearing Consumer – Hearing Health and Technology Matters!
“Oh, those people with hearing loss! Always going on about how we can't hear this and we can't hear that, wailing over the sounds missing in action, like the almighty “S” in speech or breezes in the bushes.
Take that “S” for example. The usefulness of this high frequency hissing is over-rated, in my opinion. I've made it this far in life without hearing a lot of S-es, which is why, for most of my life, I mispronounced pizza as 'pee-zuh' (said slowly) instead of 'peet-suh' said quickly) until someone said I was driving them nuts and could I please say it right. I may not always hear those S-es, but I know they're there. A hearing person can hear the pluralising S at the end of a word, but I have to either sense it or figure it out through life experience.
But there is another option. Ask your friends and family to avoid using any sibilant (airy, hissy, hard-to-hear-or-see) sounds in their speech. Yes, that's right – ban the S-es! Try different ways to pluralise or get a thought across. For example, the Hearing Husband might ask me, “Have the cats been fed since breakfast?” A non-sibilant alternative might be, “Have the cat and her brother had their lunch?” Instead of “Honey, have you seen my sandals,” try “Do you know where I could find the open-air foot covering for my left foot and the one for my right foot, too?” Nah, forget that, its too much work.......
Gael has a great sense of humour – and she has hit the nail on the head over those soft sounds 'missing in action'. I have some good examples of that. After attending a meeting, I was discussing it over a cuppa with another hearing impaired attendee who asked what the speaker had been referring to, when he spoke about 'purple tea'. The speaker had actually spoken about 'herbal tea'!!
On another occasion I was chatting with a work colleague who told me that she 'was learning to wee.' That's what it sounded like – but made no sense coming from a 50+ year old colleague!! She had in fact said that she was 'learning to weave'!! Darn those soft sounds - and the words that look alike on the lips!
In those examples I have given, we had a good laugh at the time. However, very often, what we think we have heard makes sense – so we don't check it out / give feedback – and that can create misunderstanding and get us into real trouble! We hearing impaired people need others to take responsibility in communication and speak clearly and not too quickly. However, there is also a responsibility that rests on those of us who have impaired hearing – to give feedback to ensure communication is effective. It's a shared responsibility.
(If you are on the internet you can read more from Gael at http://hearinghealthmatters.org/betterhearingconsumer/)
If you have any 'hearing howlers’ we would love to hear from you. Perhaps we could have a 'Hearing Howlers' section in the newsletter!
See you in June
(Editors Note: If you have some Hearing Howlers let me know we would all love a laugh at your or your friend’s expense)
