Home › #Health › TURNING UP THE SOUND!

TURNING UP THE SOUND!

By on • ( 20 )

We play sound loudly. The volume is up!

Garry doesn’t hear well and this is an old story. Now, finally, after long years of having other people living around here, we can finally turn up the TV to whatever level is comfortable for us without needing to listen to other people complain about it.

We know it’s loud. Sometimes, it’s very loud. If Garry needs it to be very, VERY loud, he wears headphones. That way he gets to hear everything and I don’t get pinned to the sofa by incoming sound waves.

Mind you, I like sound louder now than I did a couple of years ago. Time has a way with our eyes and ears and other parts. We need to talk louder — and slower. It’s not just not hearing the sound. It’s also about catching all the words … and fully understanding them. This is more of an issue for Garry because his hearing is worse, but it’s catching up with me, too.

Sui musicians. Older than me. Can they still hear?

It’s a subtle thing. The weirdest part of losing hearing is that you don’t think you are losing hearing. It just seems people are mumbling. Early in my life, I went for a hearing test and the answer really was my husband was mumbling. They told him to speak up. Problem solved. But that was 45 years ago.

I can hear most of the things that matter to me. I can’t hear faint sounds that were clear even last year. The beeping of one of the electronic devices in the kitchen — the microwave or the electric oven. I can’t easily distinguish where a particular sound is coming from, whether it’s in this room or down the hall or in the basement.

When I write I have always “tuned out” the sounds of the world around me, but now, I do it better. I tune out the world and it’s really tuned OUT.

My eyes, on the other hand, are getting better. I need weaker glasses with no reading glasses at all. I use my computer glasses for almost everything. If only the rest of my body would climb on board with my eyes. Maybe each year, I’d feel a little peppier than the previous one. I’d happily trade hearing for that peppy, perky, lively thing that used to be the norm for getting up in the morning. Being energetic. Wouldn’t that be something!

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Categories: #Health, #Photography, Hearing, Music

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20 replies

  1. elvagreen123
    06/12/2017 • 20:29

    Being energetic. I remember the day in ’71 that I Sprang out of the bed to go to my new job as a secretary. I remember it but I can’t replicate it.

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    • Marilyn Armstrong
      06/12/2017 • 21:31

      I remember leaping between rocks on the shore … with a big camera and all the other stuff. No can do, now. Some days are better than others, but there’s no leaping! We tread with care.

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  2. swo8
    06/12/2017 • 19:33

    Yes, I would be watching for the morphing into a vampire or werewolf. I think the same thing is happening to Peter.
    Leslie

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Judy @ NewEnglandGardenAndThread
    06/12/2017 • 19:30

    Serious topic so forgive me for chuckling. My husband served in the artillery and has worn hearing aids for quite some time. They have worked well but now he is struggling with catching all the words. I’m the one who walks around listening in all the corners for the sound that needs to be identified. But at this point in life, there is always something sagging, receding, hurting, or gone all together. It is not for the faint of heart. My theory is if it is your house, your technology, then it surely must be your finger on the volume button as well. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • Marilyn Armstrong
      06/12/2017 • 21:51

      We had people living here for more than a decade. Now that they are FINALLY gone, if want to listen to loud television, it’s our television, our ears. And those hearing aids do not do what they did long ago. Garry’s going for a check up to see IF a cochlear implant is feasible, a good idea, or not. I figured that at least in one ear, he’s profoundly deaf. Neither of us is sure this is the best idea, but decided we might as well talk to the people and ask the questions and find out. I hate the idea of any surgery at this stage of life. The older we get, the more serious surgery is.

      Liked by 1 person

    • Garry Armstrong
      06/13/2017 • 13:05

      Judy, people don’t realize the PHYSICAL stress that goes with being hard of hearing. You STRAIN to hear what people are saying. The muscles of my body tighten as I lean forward trying to pick up conversation. A person is telling a joke. It doesn’t register until I’ve gotten all the words. It’s like a 5 second delay. Sometimes I smile or laugh — without hearing the punch line — because I don’t want to be rude.

      There’s so much more that most people can’t begin to fathom.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. angloswiss
    06/12/2017 • 13:30

    I too have the gift of shutting out what I do not want to listen to because I am usually concentrating on listening to something else. My spare time is not longer spent on listening but reading and writing, so I am not so dependent on sounds.

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    • Marilyn Armstrong
      06/12/2017 • 13:34

      Garry get really annoyed that I’m not noticing what he is doing. I point out that I’m writing. Or reading. And it’s not like he is spending every waking minute keeping his eye on ME, either. It’s a man thing. He wants me to keep watching. I tell him only if he’s morphing into a vampire or werewolf.

      Liked by 3 people

  5. slmret
    06/12/2017 • 13:29

    I have a friend who is severely deaf — it’s difficult for me to deal with, but I’m always amused when he beckons food servers to come closer so they can hear him ask questions!

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