Singer Finds Her Sound After Going Deaf

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-39901298/singer-finds-her-sound-after-going-deaf


Bless her.

I find it hard to believe she is completely deaf because she speaks with clarity and seems to hit the right notes. A friend of mine is deaf - his ears don't pick up sound - but he can still hear his own voice within his head.

I guess she is like that - cut off from the sound the World makes but able to hear her own.

Must be awful to be like that - I am quite deaf and reliant on hearing aids. I get a sense of what it may be like for her when I take them out - or switch them off with my remote when I want to sit in relative quietness. For example - I can sit on the sofa reading a book with my wife whilst she is watching TV and not hear the TV with my aids off. If she wants to say something to me she has to give me a nudge for me to switch them on.

There are going to be millions like me when the current young generation grow older. Their life is filled with high volume noise (like in the clubs - or in the car with the volume full blast) and when they are not doing that they have ear buds plugged into their phones at full volume.

There are two kinds of deafness, reduced hearing and total hearing loss.
My hearing power is slowly but certainly reducing, my wife, however, is totally, completely and profoundly deaf and has been since contracting meningitis as a child. The infection destroyed the eardrum on the right side and partially destroyed the eardrum on the left.
No one would guess from her speech that she is deaf, she has been reading lips most of her life and guessing the words that she misses and making sense of it all.
This takes incredible concentration and she finds it very tiring indeed.
Consequently we avoid most situations that put pressure on her, like get togethers, gatherings, and most other social situations.
She never complains....ever !
We both just accept our problem, her deafness involves and affects both of us, sometimes making us laugh when we both misunderstand each other's words.
We don't ever let the problem become a problem.

I can remember you saying about your wife before Malcolm. How truly inspiring and the fact she never complains, what a credit to her. 

My father was partially deaf too through being in the artillery during the war. Had to wear a hearing aid. But instantly turned it off when mum and I starting talking. He said it was like listening to a pair of prawns underneath the ocean when we spoke.

It's fantastic you both have retained a sense of humour Malcolm.

Alan I agree with loud music. If you ever went to a rock concert in the 70s your ears would ring for days afterwards.