h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Dear Lazanby,

Thank you so much for a wonderful,clear, and helpful contribution. I hope I have spelt your name corectly, but when I tried to check if I after I had read your contribution, I could not find it without going back and probably losing the article. This way I keep it close. !!

I had no idea that both vertigo and tinnitus were also signs o f deafness. I have been deaf in my left ear since I was twenty three nearly sixty years. !! however, when I was younger I developed a "ploy" when my husband and I used to go to parties. I would manage to manoevre some friends into a corner of the room and face them. The corners of two walls would actually help with an echo effect I suppose.

i suffer from otosclerosis, and in 1960 had one of the first stapedectomies performed in South Africa.
It was an incredible experiencen to come round from the anaesthetic and although I was lying on my side of the "good" ear, be able to hear the staff who were specialling me. !!

As I get older I find my hearing loss is increasing. That is why this marvellous site is so wonderful. I just come here and "chat" to my friends. !! No one realises that I cannot hear them. !!

Anyway, thank you so much for such a clear and wonderfully empathetic explicarion.

Sincerely,

Christiane
AlsoRan80
Monday 28th June 2010 17.09 BST

Hi Christiane

How kind of you to write such a complimentary reply. I wrote this Entry because my mum is deaf. Deafness is such a disability, because no-one can tell that you 'can't hear'. It was meant as an awareness-raising piece and also to encourage people to be helpful to those with hearing loss.

Like you, she gets a lot of pleasure from the internet, and will have her eightieth birthday later this year.

At the moment she is attending lipreading classes, although she did go many years ago she is finding it very helpful to have a refresher course.




Lanzababy

Let me add my congratulations on a job well done. You've helped a lot of people here.

And thank you for mentioning beards as one of the worst obstacles to lip reading I have encountered. I used to admire beards, now I've developed a phobia.

I'd been lip reading for years, and didn't realise it until I got my hearing aids last year. The tester determined that I wasn't hearing consonants well at all - which means I was either lip-reading or guessing my way through life. I'd pretty much stopped talking to people at all, and I used to be a teacher.

Good point about the tinnitis - I've got a killer case of it, and my grandmother used to shout, 'Ah cain't hear it thunder!'

Christiane, I love your ploy.

Dear lazanby,

thank you for your prompt reply.

I have never had a lip reading class in my life. !!

Perhaps you could introduce me to her. After all, I am in my 83rd year. !!

Sadly, my children do not appear to be quite as sympathetic as you.My second son Keith us really understanding, but he lives far from me.

Perhaps I also do not do my best to understand them!!. I think they talk quietly so that I cannot hear.

Horrid Maman !!

Go well

Christiane
Alsoran80

Monday 28th June 2010 17.39 BST

Dear Dimitri,

I never guessed that you had problems with your hearing. but then how can one!1

But Lazenby'ss article was so good, because s/he really made me feel worth while.

One misses a lot when one is deaf.

Yes it was a ploy, but otherwise I would just stand around and look silly. this way, at least I could enjoy the party. !!

Regards to elektra.

Christiane
AlsoRan80
Monday 28th june, 2010 17.47 BST

Christiane,

Thank you. It's true, you have to use strategies.

Elektra says hello.

Dmitri

This is a terrific entry, very practical and useful for those of us living with people who are hearing impaired. Those of us blessed with normal hearing should realize how debilitating and energy draining it is for deaf and hearing impaired to live in a hearing world. One of the problems is that it is not a visable disability, and one needs to be cognizant of it.

Unfortunately with popular music trends being what they are, I´m afaid all these young people will have these problems sooner than they expect!

Thank you for the hints!

Yes, it is energy draining for the hearing impaired and it is also disempowering to be slightly left out of the loop, when everyone else can catch the joke first time round, or overhear a juicy bit of gossip.

And you are so right about noise exposure from loud music.

Great entry

I have 80% hearing loss; in one ear and 50% in the other so i can sympathise with all you have said. A very good introduction for those who have to live with loved ones and friends with hearing loss, i wish all healthy hearing people would read your entry-not too long to bore but with plenty of very useful information and sound advice - written with warmth.

I have read that, when you lose your hearing "if you want sympathy, you better develop a limp", and this is true - people get annoyed with you if you do not hear perfectly what they say, but the simple tactics you have described are easy to remember, and can help soo much in daily life.

Thanks for writing this guide entry - i hope many people read it, for it is bound to help - and be a profound help for many.

oh thank you! It makes writing so much more worthwhile when you know people actually read the stuff

aey?

Sorry

Indeed, thats what we're here for

Great entry, well done!

I love it too. Excellent stuff.

TRiG.

Christiane dear,

as usual, your brain is better than the most expensive computer. Evolution made sure you have three dimensional hearing, in HiFi speak called "Party Effect". Once you have located the person worth listening to, your brain files that idiot with the ugly necktie under "background noise" and ignores him.

You being you, I guess you´ll still grant him a smile.