The audio portion
When I opened the door, there stood Edna, my nearly deaf elderly neighbor
who lives alone on the ground floor. "I think my smoke alarm is going off," she
said. My own hearing isn't what it used to be. But even with the hearing in my
left ear half gone, I could hear the hypersonic squeal, a distant mosquito, from
the second floor. It followed us to the elevator. Still audible as we approached
her condo it didn't, oddly enough, seem to be growing louder.
Once inside I could still hear it... but still faintly. It was not the smoke detector.
So where was it coming from? Some other condo? Somewhere in the
neighborhood? A feebly dying appliance? I turned to Edna so that she could
read my lips. There it was. The squeal. I moved in closer. It was coming from
her hearing aid.
"It's coming from your hearing aid," I shouted.
"What?"
"I said it's coming from your hearing aid!"
She dug it out of her ear, and the feedback bloomed like a sound check at a
Grateful Dead concert.
She got it fixed... I'm not sure why. I suppose it's doing her some good. A few
days later I was in the lobby talking to a neighbor when Edna came by to get
her mail. I was telling Pete that I was going to Target to get a Christmas
wreath. It was one of those uncanny breakthroughs that the hard-of-hearing
have when you're talking low, to somebody else, about something of interest.
"Would you mind if I come along?" Edna said. "I'll get my purse."
who lives alone on the ground floor. "I think my smoke alarm is going off," she
said. My own hearing isn't what it used to be. But even with the hearing in my
left ear half gone, I could hear the hypersonic squeal, a distant mosquito, from
the second floor. It followed us to the elevator. Still audible as we approached
her condo it didn't, oddly enough, seem to be growing louder.
Once inside I could still hear it... but still faintly. It was not the smoke detector.
So where was it coming from? Some other condo? Somewhere in the
neighborhood? A feebly dying appliance? I turned to Edna so that she could
read my lips. There it was. The squeal. I moved in closer. It was coming from
her hearing aid.
"It's coming from your hearing aid," I shouted.
"What?"
"I said it's coming from your hearing aid!"
She dug it out of her ear, and the feedback bloomed like a sound check at a
Grateful Dead concert.
She got it fixed... I'm not sure why. I suppose it's doing her some good. A few
days later I was in the lobby talking to a neighbor when Edna came by to get
her mail. I was telling Pete that I was going to Target to get a Christmas
wreath. It was one of those uncanny breakthroughs that the hard-of-hearing
have when you're talking low, to somebody else, about something of interest.
"Would you mind if I come along?" Edna said. "I'll get my purse."
My memory is jerked in two directions. One path leads to the horrid story of MuNKi's first night away on a 5 week deployment when the bloody smoke alarm went off at 1 in the morning and wouldn't go off. Even when I ripped it out of the ceiling.
ReplyDeleteThe other leads to the episode of Fawlty Towers where the old bat won't turn up her hearing aid because "it runs the battery down."
But I think your old lady tops both of them. ^_^ OMG. Are you sure you didn't make that up? What I riot! (but only because it happened to you and not to me)
BTW, MI is quite warm these days. Is that normal for this time of year?
LMAO You just described living with my Dad,deaf to even the shrieking kettle that makes every dog howl within a 10 km radius,but able to hear if we're planning an outing in the next room.
ReplyDeletecandace - you can't make this stuff up!
ReplyDeletebugs - how do they do that?
That's great. I love the selective hearing bit. My kids have that too.
ReplyDeleteI've been enjoying your blog. In case I haven't mentioned, I've blogrolled you.
Joe I think it all depends upon the pitch and amount of background noise mainly.For the majority it's the upper or lower registers they can't hear,for others it's the middle range.
ReplyDeleteMost times we find signalling Mars with a carrier pigeon helps Dad to comprehend lol ;).