Hearing

Hearing and communication

As one gets older (or should I say more mature) hearing becomes more difficult.  The whole question of communication and how one goes about it becomes important.
With hearing loss it is necessary to consider what is important in order to communicate successfully.  Whilst hearing aids have improved after the introduction of the digital kind they are not always successful.  It simply isn’t a question of volume.  Increasing the volume does not necessarily increase the understanding. When, for instance, you are in a room with several other people, increasing the volume simply adds to the  babble.  The difficulty seems to be that wearing a hearing aid increases everyone’s speech.  It appears to me that  a person with good hearing can somehow hone in on an individual’s speech; the deaf person cannot.
I am at present dictating this to my computer.  I am in a room on my own and there is no sound except my own voice.  In those circumstances my computer is able to understand what I say.  If there were other people talking in the room the computer would not be able to record what I say. This rather illustrates the case of the person with poor hearing.

Another factor which is important both to the person listening, and in this case, a computer, is articulation.  I can, for instance, listen to the newsreader on the television and understand.  But if I weren’t listening to a  play where accents differ then I am not able to hear correctly.  Often in everyday conversation people tend to mumble or speak in a rather a slovenly way.  In those cases I find there is a  tendency to guess and not necessarily understand correctly. This is a process that takes place, of which, I am not always aware.  You can imagine just what difficulties result!  Unless clearly articulated, the words yes and no can often be confused.  That can lead to an argument.
People differ in the manner of their speech when they are in different situations.  I particularly noticed that my father, when he picked up the telephone, spoke in a different voice.  In fact, he articulated as I would say.  As I speak now, I no doubt, articulate my voice more than I would in general conversation. Unless I do so the computer does not understand.

In order to hear  anyone  I am using hearing aids provided the NHS. Which has illustrated the most important factor the brain, it must be able interpret the signals from the ears! I am writing this day using a microphone attached to the laptop.