Talked to my Audiologist

[Smart Red]

As Larisa mentions, all bets are off when it comes to using hearing aids. They channel all sounds into the ear with the same value where the brain would have muffled unimportant background noises. That makes noisy, crowded places painful for those with hearing aids and it makes carrying a conversation with one or two people terribly difficult to do.

I don't have a hearing problem (spouse used to complain I did) but loud noises actually hurt to hear. Always have. I was the only teacher who begged school officials to have the amps turned down at school dances. Never mind that it was also harming the students' hearing, yup, I was the square old fuddy-duddy.

 

[digitS']

I think I know what you mean, @Nyboy . I was asking DW if we were hearing crickets the other day. She claimed that she wasn't hearing anything noteworthy. There are advantages to hearing loss, I'll include incessant sounds from Nature ... oh yeah! I really don't like the sound of waterfalls! Don't tell Mother !

Trains? To show you how the noise of human industry is infringing on peace and quiet: @thistlebloom lives north ... north of a railroad siding labeled as "North Pole!" At least, I think she's north of it ... I used to live east of that Burlington Northern siding but I never noticed a sign on it back then. Maybe there was a sign but it had blown down ...

Annette, it could be the speed of things. I have real trouble with keeping up with the overthelimit pace. I'm willing to insist on my right of way but know that there is reason to expect misunderstandings.

I was on a 4 lane street the other day. A guy passed me only to get right in front of my pickup. He turned in a few more blocks. Just a little impatient but it didn't really mean anything to me. I moved into the left lane because I would be turning left. I'm close behind a truck.

Suddenly, I see a young lady standing on one of those curbs separating the middle turning lanes. I'm thinking "Whoa! What's she doing out here? If she loses her balance on that narrow thing, somebody might hit her and it could be me!"

I pushed right over on the broken line. The guy who had passed me and who I was now slightly ahead of must have though I was trying to intimidate him. HONK!!!

In just a moment, I realized he never saw the girl standing in the middle of traffic! My pickup blocked his view of her just as the truck ahead of me blocked my (our) view a moment before!

My anxiety over hitting a person created a kind of emotionally charged moment. Personally, I wasn't upset for more than a moment before guessing where he was "coming from."

Fortunately, we each saw our way to our different intersections without further upset but, it was kind of a demonstration of assumptions based a little too much on expecting the worse, and fear ...

The perpetrator got off that curb and made it safely to the other side of the street, I trust. Making up her own rules on pedestrian safety was just silly! Still, there was much too high a price for her to pay on that account. Now, if she had been carrying a sign on a fifteen foot pole saying, "will you please drive with more concern for pedestrians," I might have felt a little more understanding. As it was, I was left with a question about her intelligence.

Steve
who remembers as as kid a steam engine passing on the other side of the neighbor's field, hearing all the noise of its whistle and seeing the huge cloud of smoke and steam left lingering in its wake ... didn't happen very often, I hasten to add

 

[Nyboy]

People who drive loud motorcycles claim it is for safety. The loud noise lets car drivers know they are near

 

[thistlebloom]

I don't expect them to be silent, (although there are electric motorcycles)

as to being safer, I wonder about that when they accelerate past and your heart jumps up into your throat at the explosion of noise. Makes me want to run them over, but! not to worry, my little truck could never catch a bike, even with the use of my optional pedals.

Yes, Steve, I do live north of the North Pole siding.And east.
We also hear the antique steam train that operates in the amusement park. I love that sound. It's actually almost melodic.

 

[catjac1975]

About driving around with my window down. A motorcycle passes ... snap, snap, SNAP!!!

The hearing aids have feedback overloads from the excessive, outrageous noise! Pocket Rockets with ridiculous mufflers. Diesel trucks!

Oh no, not the 500 horsepower semi. Just a little 5 liter, big enuf to push a 4-wheeler around!

And, mufflers, are they even required anymore? Are there noise standards that are enforced? Does anybody care or is it only the near-deaf?

Steve

If my husband say "What?" to me one more time.................

 

[aftermidnight]

I forgot to mention there are train tracks just behind the little estuary park across the street from us, rarely used but the upkeep of the tracks is practically nil so when a train goes by the noise.... but it doesn't run very often. My neighbor up the road, the tracks are so close to her back fence she can almost reach out and shake the engineer's hand. OK, that was a bit of an exaggeration but a dozen steps from her back fence you're on the track.
I can't even begin to imagine people with hearing aids have to put up with.

@digitS' , I don't drive myself, never have, with the eye problem I have I can't judge distance accurately. You did nothing wrong, you saw a possible problem and took measures to avoid it. If anyone was at fault it was the driver behind you following too close. If everyone followed speed limits and rules of the road....... ain't going to happen, all you can do is drive defensively.

@Nyboy did I ever mention I was a biker chick in my youth, hubby had a bike when we met . No he wasn't a gang member but rode with a bunch of very boisterous Navy types, they all had bikes, easier to store when at sea. Those were fun times, hubby had a Harley, then a Goldstar, he also had a track bike but when we started having the kids, couldn't fit them on the back so he traded in on a car, only kept the track bike . I have to admit I still like the sound of a Harley, brings back fond memories.

Annette

 

[Nyboy]

Biker chick the more I find out about you the more I like you !!!

 

[majorcatfish]

"Tinnitus" ringing in the ear...nothing like it 7/24
could be quite someday's, others it's none stop....
thats all i can say about that....grrrrr

oh what did you say?

 

[digitS']

. I have to admit I still like the sound of a Harley, brings back fond memories.

Annette

You better stay under that chair, Annette! I've had about all I can take.

When I was a farmworker, I'd climb down off a tractor after running it for 12+ hours and literally hear nothing. Tell myself, it will come back. I had poor hearing then. I wonder how much more I lost during those days, driving circles in a field.

You know, my spell checker doesn't know the word "farmworker!" It tries to autocorrect to "farmworkers." Let's see if it knows "farmhand." Hmmm. Nope. Farmhands? Nope.

Kinda disrespectful to consider me as a collective, "farmworkers" instead as an individual. I mean, I've got my own 20 digitS'. Oh well. Union!

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

We lived out in the boonies in those early years, and a motorcycle was much easier on the gas than the truck, so we often took the bike (street legal dirt bike) when we visited our families in town.
But it wasn't obnoxiously loud.

Then there was the time dh bought a Harley and went for a ride with a navy friend of ours (@aftermidnight , you're right about those Navy guys!). They merged onto the freeway right in the middle of a huge motorcycle gang** going to a memorial service for one of their own. There they were, two regular guys in helmets and jeans in the middle of a group of wild eyed tattooed bikers in leathers and bandannas! They got off at the next exit. Haha! Makes me smile every time I remember that.

** dh just reminded me that it was not your run of the mill biker gang, it was the Hells Angels.