Archive for normal hearing children

Elvis sang about me…..

{ September 6, 2007 @ 1:51 am } · { Girly Girl, deaf, deafness, hard of hearing, hearing impaired, hearing loss, normal hearing children }
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Before I became a mom, I was a bit anxious about my ability to take care of offspring. Would I be able to hear my newborn’s cries of distress? Would I understand my child’s first sweet words? Could I take care of my children despite my deafness?

I need not have worried. Once I crossed the threshold into motherhood, I was pleased to discover my hearing loss adequately compensated with an otherworldly ability to gather information by scent. This skill has served me well over the years, covering every stage of development in my children’s lives. My olfactory sense enables me to:

  • detect a dirty diaper from 20 feet away (Infant stage)
  • determine who ate the missing cookies (Toddler  - Preteen years)
  • know if smokers have been around my children (Teen years)
  • smell TROUBLE (Early Adulthood)

Consider the following exchange between my teenage daughter and me just before she turned 18:

“Where did you go?”

“To a house.”

“What did you and your friends do?”

“Stuff.”

If she won’t give me details, I’ll find out for myself. I call my firstborn to me and begin sniffing.

“I smell cigarette smoke! Have you been smoking?“

“No!“

I raise her hands to my nose. She’s telling the truth.

“Let me smell your breath!“

She rolls her eyes and lets out an exaggerated sigh. Hmmm. No alcohol or tobacco scent.

“Okay, you can go.“

Before she departs for her room, she gives me the evil eye and says, “Mom, you’re like a HOUND DOG sniffing me all the time!“

Aren’t the teenage years precious?

The Forgotten Superhero

{ September 2, 2007 @ 12:22 am } · { Super Hearing Boy, deafness, hard of hearing, hearing impaired, hearing loss, noise pollution, normal hearing children }
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Last night:

Super Hearing Boy (SHB): “I’m going to sleep now.”

Me: “Okay, have a good night - I love you!”

A few minutes later:

SHB: “Mom, I can’t sleep. I hear termites chewing something. I think it’s the dresser Tanya gave us.”

Me: “You’re joking, right?”

SHB: “No.”  

Throwing the sheet off, I leave my comfortable nest and follow my son to his room.  

SHB: “I think the termites are in the wood trim around the mirror.”  

I separate the mirror from the dresser, exposing a mound of termite droppings.  

SHB: “See! I knew I could hear them!”  

After relocating the mirror to the living room far from Super Hearing Boy’s hypersensitive ears, I return to my bed.  

Two minutes later:  

SHB: “Mom, I still hear them.”  

Me: “You could use a little deafness right now, Boy. Let me sleep!”  

SHB: “It’s really loud!”  

Sigh. Once again, I leave my soft bed to save my mutant superhero from the sounds of loudness. We push the dresser into the dining room to await its fate, then I slide into my bed for the third and hopefully final time that night.  

As I wait for waves of sleep to engulf me, I’m awed by Super Hearing Boy’s supersonic hearing. I’m also somewhat thankful for my deafness, knowing I’ll never lose sleep over irritating sounds that have caused problems for SHB in the past. You know, horrid sounds such as the flapping of butterflies’ wings, leaves falling, or grass growing.

We See, They Listen

{ August 22, 2007 @ 4:15 am } · { Super Hearing Boy, deafness, hard of hearing, normal hearing children }
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I never cease to be amazed at what Normal Hearing (NH) people can hear. NH people can put a pot of water on the stove and know precisely when it starts to boil - WITHOUT looking at it. What an amazing feat! They can determine if a light bulb is good - just by SHAKING it. Astounding! And get this…they can hear turning signals. Really - it’s true.

I know these things because of my son, Super Hearing Boy, who can hear a flea land on a dog. He demonstrated his exceptional skill at my mother’s home a couple of weeks ago. We were relaxing in the living room, enjoying the Sci-Fi channel. He was sitting in the recliner, and I was on the couch, when out of the blue, he yells, “Mom!”

Alarmed, I turn to Super Hearing Boy and say, “What’s wrong?”

“Please stop!”

“Stop what?”

“That!”

“What in the world are you talking about? I’m not doing anything!”

“Stop scratching!”

Lest you think I’m a dry, scaly alligator woman, I was scratching a mosquito bite.

Help! I can’t hear my kids!

{ August 5, 2007 @ 4:46 pm } · { Communication technique, hard of hearing, hearing impaired, hearing loss, normal hearing children }
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Living with a hard of hearing (HOH) person can be frustrating. My two children have normal hearing, and like most normal hearing people, they don’t have to lipread. They can eavesdrop. They can hear in the dark. Most importantly, they can talk to someone in a DIFFERENT ROOM!

Normal hearing parents listen to their children while cooking, folding laundry, cleaning house, or taking a shower. HOH parents MUST drop what they’re doing and focus intently on their child’s lips. Imagine the power struggle that ensues when a HOH parent tries to finish a chore, and a normal hearing child fervently insists upon attention right now!

“MOM. LOOK AT ME!” my daughter shouted as she tugged on my skirt.

“Give me a minute. These veggie burgers are going to burn if I don’t get them out now.”

“MOM, HURRY!”

“Just a few more seconds!”

“MOM!”

Repeat this scenario all day, every day, and multiply it year after year. It gets old, fast.

Or this:

Me: Do you want to go to the park today?

Kids: Mph.

Me: What?

Kids: Mph!

Me: What?

Kids: MMPPPPHHHH!

During one such scenario, my daughter had a meltdown. Tears streamed down her face and she collapsed on the floor. “I WISH YOU COULD HEAR ME!” she wailed.

“Sweetie, I’m sorry. I wish I could hear like you, but I can’t.” I said.

Inspiration hit a few minutes later. Bass sounds are easy for me to hear. Maybe my kids and I can come up with a simple code using low frequencies. This should work for questions that require a yes or no answer.

I called them for a meeting and we decided upon the following code:

One bark = yes

Two barks = no

Three barks = I don’t know

Three barks, REST, followed by two more barks = I don’t care

I’m happy to report that this code works well! If you stop by my place, you’ll hear my kids barking at me over the phone, in the same room, or *gasp* in a different room. Sometimes they accidentally bark in the grocery store, or some other public place. And they do it because they love me. Woof!