"put on your hearing aids!"

[KellyHabersham]

*just something minor I needed to rant about this morning......partially inspired by my mom getting frustrated with me this morning because I couldn't hear something she said to me*


For some background info - I was diagnosed with a hearing loss back in elementary school, and was prescribed hearing aids. I didn't mind wearing them so much at first, but over the years, I got tired of having to repeatedly explain that I wasn't deaf, mentally handicapped,.....etc., and I ended up misplacing them. (this was NOT on purpose, by the way......I honestly don't know what happened to them)

Anyhow, my hearing has gotten a little worse over the years, and unfortunately, I cannot afford to get a new set of hearing aids or even get my hearing tested. Family members are well aware of this, yet sometimes they will get annoyed if I can't hear/understand something they are saying, and tell me to "go put on your hearing aids!".

Which doesn't make me feel very good, and I really don't know how to respond when this happens......although I'd love to say something like "I'd be happy to do that if you'll help pay for new hearing aids!" (I should probably also mention that I'm not "allowed" to get frustrated if I have to repeat something because people can't hear/understand me, but it's okay for them to get mad at me about it)

[Akasa]

Talk about a double standard.

[Sarah Valentine]

Why the hell aren't you allowed to get frustrated and upset if you have to repeat something?

[Greenday]

I think they don't think it's cool to get upset at them for them wanting you to repeat yourself.

If you are just getting upset at yourself, that's different.

[KellyHabersham]

I think they don't think it's cool to get upset at them for them wanting you to repeat yourself.

I'd have to agree with that - admittedly, I DO get frustrated if I have to frequently repeat myself when talking to someone, but that is because I hear myself as speaking in a "normal" pitch and speed, while the other person apparently hears me as not speaking clearly. And since they never seem able to give feedback on exactly why they couldn't understand me, it does get a little frustrating.

[Greenday]

Record yourself talking sometime. It's freaky how different you'll sound. I never thought about it until I took public speaking in college and for extra credit, we could listen to a recording of ourselves and critique it. My voice is deeper than what I hear it as. Plus I mumble a lot even though it generally sounds clear to me. My coworker from Iowa seems to have a very similar accent to me (NJ). There's a lot of Southerners out here so he's one of the closest to me. I was chatting with a guy from the UAE and he said we sound very different. It's funny. But I guess it's because he hears me different from what I hear myself as.