Trying to find the positive in hearing loss came up on the SayWhatClub Connect list. We’re not saying hearing loss isn’t a serious matter. It isn’t easy missing so much in today’s world. Sometimes things seem so bad, all we can do is focus on the negative so we had a little fun with finding the positive side of hearing loss. As one member wrote, “Singing to keep from crying.” So we had a little bit of fun for a day and here’s what we came up with…
- Having a hearing loss forces you to view things from a different perspective. We loose out on something but gain so much more in other ways. No one has it “all.”
- You are more aware of the world around you using your other senses and can see things “normal” people miss or taste something or smell something that normal people will never be able too.
- I think hearing loss makes us nicer people for the most. We have more patience, sympathy and understanding than many people for all disabilities.
- Because of hearing loss, I’m co-chair for the Walk4Hearing, and sit on a few other committees advocating for hearing loss awareness.
- I’m pursuing a dream because I couldn’t hear at work anymore.
- I can listen to a radio station with static and not even realize it. Sounds good to me! I don’t even know when I’ve blown the speakers in my car.
- Sometimes I can make conversations more interesting than they really are by telling everyone what I heard. (This one came up a few times.)
- Sometimes you can pick up transmitter radios, CB radios and spanish channels with your hearing aids in T mode….a normal person cannot do that!
I can use my “selective hearing” and tune awful noises out….
- Tuning out whining kids, bratty people or obnoxious co-workers.
- I can’t hear crying babies in the seat in front of me on a plane.
- I love not hearing my husband snore in the middle of the night, not hearing
him come to bed after me and shut the window and close the blinds. I sleep through all of that. (Others wrote about not hearing their significant other’s snoring, a popular one!) - I’ve learned that I can always poke the HAs to “T” in church when there’s a screaming baby, and get a neat, ambient humming soundtrack anywhere, to give my ears a rest.
- Barking dogs don’t bother me at night when HA is out.
- I’m able to tune hubby out when he’s annoying (said with a smile).
- Noisy neighbors don’t bother me as much.
- I don’t have to listen to political ads!!!
And…
All the new friends I gained with finding SWC!
And I don’t know the font changed colors!
My hearing loss is not as severe as yours, but I too, have had my mishaps (most of the time they’re pretty funny– such as when I just learned that Van Halen’s song Panama was NOT really Get It On. My hubby now sings my “lyrics” when the song comes on.) Your list is so true– especially the part about noticing what others miss. We spend a lot of time reading people to understand where the discussion is going.
My favorite mis-hear to lyrics to an Eminem song. When my kids first played it in the car, I thought, No way would a rapper dude be singing about that! I snapped off the stereo and asked the kids, “Is he singing about being “Queen of his carpet?” We all laughed ourselves silly and when my daughter caught her breath she said told me, “No, he’s cleaning out his closet.” We never could sing the song right after that. He will forever be Queen of His Carpet in my family.
That is pretty funny! I wonder if Eminem would find it as funny. : ) Growing up, I was always so happy when an album included the song lyrics.
Great post, Chelle. Graditude for what we have is the way to good mental health. Being able to laugh is frosting on the cake! I’ve been enjoying your posts here. Keep up the good work! (I’m grateful–LOL)
This is what makes SWC such a great group!! Sharing our thoughts on a subject. Sometimes you just have to look at the positive side… and, there’s a positive side to everything, you just have to take the time to find it. That’s easier when you have friends to help you.
For me, since I began losing my hearing so young, hearing loss has many positives. I first learned them from my deaf grandmother, before I even realized I had a hearing loss myself. I saw how much more perceptive she was, and how kind and tolerant she was. How she focused on what she could do instead of what she couldn’t.
Because I can’t hear, I’m very perceptive and visual… I see things others might not notice, I’m an observer, I pay attention to detail. Instead of being sad at not being able to hear a child’s whisper, I focus on all that a whisper is — a past post of mine.
As for mishearing… it wasn’t until “Mamma Mia” came out that I knew the lyrics of the song “SOS”. I didn’t pay much attention to song titles back when I could still hear the radio, because speech was very hard to make out, even more so than the music, so I never knew the song’s title at all. I used to sing:
“So when you’re near me, darling can’t you hear me
Echoing.
The love you gave me, nothing else can save me…
Echoing.”
I laughed myself silly when I first watched “Mamma Mia”… I was in my 50’s before I found out the title and words to this song!! No wonder my friends sometimes laughed at me when I was a teenager when we would sing along with the radio. LOL ~~Michele
Good article! I loved the positive light it shed. Thank-you!
Great article. My hearing loss isn’t as severe as your either, but I have started looking into getting hearing aids. It’s a big step, and it takes some research to find out what type of hearing aid fits you best. Good luck in the future and remember, these are the Golden Years!
Good luck to you and getting hearing aids! Try out different ones and pick the one you like best.
Great post. My son likes the fact that he can “turn off” people when they are bothering him… I’ve caught him doing it to me when I was in lecture mode… and, was like “hey! turn me back on!” LOL
I do feel blessed now and then for being able to tune things out. If I had the choice, I’d rather hear everything. 🙂
Hello!
I’m glad to see that others share the same feelings I do. I too, get excited about finding lyrics in a new cd. (Though, nowadays, if I don’t, I just Google them online. :o)
Finally, I found my people! This is good; it means that I’m not nuts! (That, or we’re just all a few good nuts.) I try to focus on the “lighter” side of being HOH too. Though it can be challenging. (Seems more now then before.)
When I was young, and my husband and I were dating, he looked me in the eyes, and after awhile he said, “I hate your guts.” My response? “WHAT?! We’ve been dating for several months, and you tell me you hate my guts?” His reply, (after he could control his laughter) was, “No! I said, that I love you”. How did I ever get “I hate your guts” out of “I love you” is beyond me. They don’t even look alike when lip-reading.
We also came up with a way for him to get my attention in a busy place. I cannot discriminate my own name from other noise when it’s called. One day, my husband was trying and trying to get my attention because he couldn’t get to me. He finally yelled out, “HEY YOU!”, I heard him clearly and spun around. My mother hated it that he said that to me, but it actually works! And, I encouraged him to continue saying that when we’re in a crowded situation. Other people think he’s being rude, but actually, he’s one of the kindest people I’ve ever known. :o)
To sharing the fun of being HOH!
I google lyrics too. It’s the only way for me to understand them anymore.
My boyfriend does this “whoop” sound when he wants my attention. He gets ahead of me skiing sometimes and he stops to wait. If I pass him, he does the “whoop’ sound which gets my attention right away so I stop too. It also works from different rooms in the house and noisy places.
A sense of humor is the best way to go. It helps when people keep a sense of humor with me. Thanks for commenting!
I was laughing at your “I hate your guts.” flub, roongirl. LOL Late one night my husband and I were talking in the dark before going to sleep and he called me his “…little lump of cement.” I asked, ‘What the hell does that mean?”, and turned on the light. LOL Of course, that’s not what he called me, and we had a good laugh.
As for “Hey You”… whatever works!
My husband had surgery on his elbow yesterday and I’ve been a terrible nurse. He called for me several times during the night, but when that didn’t work he scraped a chair across the floor and banged on furniture, but I still didn’t wake up. I had set my cell phone alarm (I usually wake to it) so I would get up when he needed his pain meds, but I didn’t hear the alarm. I’m going to have to set the Sonic Boom tonight. :o) ~~Michele
Sometimes you just gotta laugh! I have answered to burps and hiccups. I have lip read swearing through an office window. Sometimes they have asked what the bleeped out coach on TV was yelling. Lipreading comes in handy. There are so many wonderful activities we can still enjoy with defective hearing that usually I don’t think about my hearing. The only time I have to give it much thought any more is when I’m with people who don’t know me well enough to know my hearing issues. Since I got the cochlear implant I am finding those situations much easier to manage now without thinking about my hearing environment ahead of time.
I do not mind being me, and if I had the opportunity to live my life over again with perfect hearing, I wouldn’t do it.
I lip read football coaches. It’s kind of funny to read their temper tantrums. Why is it that the cuss words are so much easier to lip read? I was talking to my mom about that the other day. I always seem to get them and even hear them when I won’t hear anything else. lol It’s warped.
Isn’t amazing how well people annunciate when in the heat of an argument? I often can read every single word of such exchanges. I was stopped at a red light and was watching the couple behind me in the rear view mirror as they argued. I knew every single word they said, plus, my brain added voices to what they were saying, since I could hear every word. I find that so fascinating!! ~~Michele
That’s amazing Michele, I’m not that good at lip reading yet. 🙂
I can relate to this. I often say excuse me when people cough instead of sneeze.
Discard my previous reply. I meant to say that I often say “Bless You”, when someone coughs instead of sneezes.