Thursday, June 24, 2010

Pinpointing a Hearing Loss

It's one of the most frequent questions people ask me: "So how much can you actually hear?" Some seem befuddled by the notion that I am not completely deaf, that I do hear something, but that what I hear isn't anywhere near what they themselves hear. Having never been hearing myself, I often end up at a loss for words. How to describe my experience in relation to theirs, when I do not know what "normal" is?

One of the things that hearing professionals do for parents whose children have been diagnosed with a hearing loss is play simulated clips of what their child's world sounds like. My own parents have told me about their experiences with such audio clips when I was young, and say that it helped them cope, understand, and move on. Earlier today, while reading another deaf-themed blog, I found this website that provides similar simulations:

Of course, this site is targeted toward helping hearing people (like my parents, years ago) understand what deafness and hearing loss sounds like, and so it would be useless for me to "listen" to say whether or not it's accurate. So, to my hearing friends and readers out there - is this surprising, eye-opening, appalling, just what you predicted? Any insights?

1 comment:

  1. The attached simulation is nothing like what we heard long ago. The high frequency loss simulation is in my opinion way off. Also this does not reflect a profound loss. If only I could get my hands on the record (yes vinyl record that is) we listened to. This record was most likely closer to what you hear.