It never ceases to amaze me that some people put such a low priority on their ability to hear; it’s as if hearing is a disposable sense. I hear it all the time, people ask, “if you had to lose your sight or your hearing, which would you choose?” Frankly, if I was forced to make that decision, I don’t know how I would vote. It’s a choice I hope none of us ever have to make.
That being said, given the choice of impaired vision or impaired hearing is a totally different question. Note the word “impaired”. My vision is already impaired; I wear bifocals to cover both distance and close up. My hearing still measures as normal on both sides, but the right ear is slightly lower than the left as a result of scar tissue that developed when I was younger and my TM (Tympanic Membrane – the eardrum), burst from the pressure. It healed, but the scar tissue gives me a slight conductive hearing loss. I wear a hearing aid on the right side when I need to hear people speaking, particularly at lectures. Also when I watch television at home.
I still don’t want to have to choose between them. I hate both of the situations but have to deal with them. They are both important to me. I’m a musician, for one thing, or at least I like to think I am. Many of you who have seen me in my office may have noticed the acoustic bass guitar in the corner. I keep it there to practice during my lunch hour, or on the days I stay late waiting for a band practice to start.
I am also an avid reader; non-fiction for the most part, thank you, but it’s not unusual for me to read three to four books per week. I have taken to using my tablet for reading lately, it’s far easier to carry 300 books on a tiny memory card than it is to carry them in a briefcase. I also listen to “books on CD”, (well, technically they are books on memory card as well, just stored as sound files, rather than print style), so either way I need need both of those to be working to a certain degree. I suppose if the issue arose I could learn Braille, but with the callouses on my fingers from playing guitar, it may be more difficult. But if I couldn’t hear the music properly, or at all, I know there would be a huge void in my life. I’m sure most of that void is due to the fact that I have heard it, I know what it’s supposed to sound like and I would miss it, but I often feel for those who have never heard it, or have had to hear it in ways other than the way it was recorded.
Recently I saw a movie called Inside Llewyn Davis, which was the Coen brothers’ story of a struggling folk singer in the Coffee House era of the early 1960’s. It was a great film, but a lot of the conversation took place in darkened rooms at merely a whisper. From my speakers in my living room, those quiet parts became very difficult to hear and understand. Some of the music, particularly Llewyn’s songs, were played on an acoustic guitar and sang softly. I needed my hearing aid to get the full quality, since the visuals were all basically the same. As with most Coen brothers’ movies, the conversations that abound are incredibly important to the storyline and, also a characteristic of Coens’ movies, the music was the core of it, and I happen to be a big fan of folk music. The character of Llewyn Davis was based, loosely perhaps, on the man who was thought to have been the first Coffee House folk singer, Dave Van Ronk, whose music I truly admire.
So please don’t ever ask me which I would prefer to lose, it would be neither. And if I had a choice I wouldn’t want either to be impaired. But since both are I’m very thankful that we have the technology to assist with both of these issues.