As someone who has become aware of my own difficulty in hearing since the age of 60 years, I thought I would look into the experiences of others.
My first interviewee is a relative who is 97 years old. A lady who is still very active with church, clubs, visiting family and enjoying many crafts. Her hearing loss has been profound and she has, like me noticed her deterioration from around the age of 60 when someone behind her tapped her on the shoulder and said “I was talking to you”. She has been wearing her aids for 37 years now. She told me the problems she has when going to church and the sound system is not correctly set. Having to ask regularly for the system to be corrected is not only embarrassing she tells me but makes her feel a nuisance. Having recently received top of the range aids from the NHS she returned home with them without written instructions on how to use the various settings. She simply needed instruction which should have been available to her but she does not want to “bother anyone”
My second interviewees, are the parents of a young man (another relation) who was found to be deaf around the age of 2-3 yrs and he is now in his mid30’s. They, his parents, noticed that he was sitting close to the television with his ear pressed to the screen rather than watching at a comfortable distance. This child had been tested as all babies are and appeared to notice the sounds being made behind and to the side of him but not so by the age of 3 yrs. With a younger sister arriving on the scene the parents were more aware of the signs and both children were eventually fitted with grommets and later on hearing aids. Neither parent has hearing difficulties. The children started school and parents made the staff aware of the children’s problems and they were instructed to sit at the front of the class. Eventually the class rooms were fitted with a loop system. They were referred to an extremely highly thought of Specialist at a Centre of Excellence and have coped extremely well with their difficulties through the years. Both children, (now adults) have to lip read as well and noisy surroundings are always difficult. There have been a couple of occasions when the young man in this story has been in a theatre sitting on the front row and he has been called out to by the person on stage. Unfortunately, not a comfortable experience for him as he is not always able to catch all that is being said.
I have to finish with a recent experience of mine. Attending our Annual Council Meeting just recently, I noted the speaker was to be Paul Whittaker OBE – Inspirational Speaker, Musician, Performer. Little did I realise that this brief description told us very little about just how Inspirational this man was. I did note that he used sign language during the singing of Jerusalem. He had also spoken (signed)to our members (some of them already knew him) throughout his talk. He had been deaf since birth but not properly diagnosed until the age of seven.
He was twelve when he joined the church choir and found the church organ which he loved. His mother tried to get piano lessons for him without success because when she mentioned “he was deaf” no one would take up the challenge. However, he continued his efforts and decided he would like to attend University. His first choice Durham turned him down. Wadham College in Oxford on the other hand had thought he was worthy of a place and with some support provided he began his studies. This was followed by further studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. His career took off from there and he began signing for Musical Theatre. He had suggested to Richard Stilgoe a talented pianist, comedian and writer that he signed for the musical Peter and the Wolf – this was his first show. Followed by Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. He has since travelled the world doing signing for many musicals. He completed his evening with us by playing recorded songs from various musicals including “Love Changes Everything” . The emotion he showed as he signed throughout his performance affected many of the members of the audience and he received a standing ovation from them (some in tears). I could hear every word that he said even though I do not have great knowledge of signing. His ability to speak remarkably clearly to us all and use a microphone made all the difference to those amongst us with hearing difficulties. He did ask how many wore hearing aids and I know quite a number in front of me raised their hands.
In conclusion.
- If you are speaking in a group situation, please use the microphone when available. It really will make a huge difference.
- Please don’t cover your mouth when speaking. (important for lip reading).
- If you see a child being very noisy don’t think he/she is just naughty, that child may be deaf and have no idea how loud he is.
- If people are impatient and asking if you are deaf maybe you do need a hearing test.
- We need more patience in this world to cope with all the problems around us so please show a little more understanding towards our fellow mankind. Written by Valerie Miller – Website and Social Media Committee and a WI member at Cuddington and Sandiway
