Can you hear me now? By Nancy Wood, Daily Sun columnist "A good
marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband."— M.E. de
Montaigne, French essayistVery funny, Monsieur Montaigne! I wonder if
his wife read that! Early in our marriage, we decided that many
married couples we knew would be much happier if they could stop
competing for the TV remote.The solution for us was, and still is,
separate television sets — in different rooms, of course. The rooms
are adjacent, so we can communicate when we want to call each other's
attention to something we are watching. For example, Sterling,
knowing how much I love snow, called to me recently to see the "joys"
of a blizzard-inundated football game.Our system was challenged a bit
recently. His set got louder and louder until I finally had to close
the door between the rooms so I could hear my set at its lower
volume. Neither of us liked the closed door — it made us feel alone
instead of together. Another solution was needed, and it was not
going to be returning to one set so we could vie for control of the
remote. At last, we invested in a set of good-quality earphones,
which greatly enhanced his ability to hear even more than he did
before, while muting the sound into the room. The door, happily, was
re-opened.Last night, all of this pleasantness came to a screeching
halt. The speakers stopped working, the door was closed, and I had
one very unhappy husband in the next room. We had a good solution for
the channel choices, but the hearing problem is ongoing and
challenging. Fortunately, it was only a matter of recharging the
batteries.All of this made me think of a friend we had dinner with
the other night. She was obviously happy and wanted to share the
reason. She had a new hearing device which actually works well — even
in a crowded room.That is a life changer without a doubt. Good
hearing is a treasure. When it declines, it affects everyone with
whom you come in contact. And, often, they have no idea what it is
like to struggle over every word that is said. It was so wonderful to
hear our friend bubbling over her return to the hearing world. I do
hope all of you whose hearing is impaired will find that some new
technology helps you and your loved ones.In the meantime, I would
like to share something given to me by Sterling's hearing specialist
at the VA Hospital in Gainesville:The Ten Commandments (for those who
interact with the hearing impaired).1. Thou shalt not speak from
another room.2. Thou shalt not speak with your back toward the person
with a hearing problem.3. Thou shalt not start speaking and then turn
away from the person with the problem.4. Thou shalt not speak in
competition with anything else (running water, TV, etc.)5. Thou shalt
get the attention of the person before you begin speaking.6. Thou
shalt speak face to face whenever possible.7. Thou shalt try to
remove obstructions such as your hand from in front of your mouth.8.
Thou shalt speak clearly and distinctly (no mumbling.)9. Thou shalt
exercise patience when communicating with a hearing impaired
person.10. Thou shalt be supportive to that person.Good advice! Even
the smallest amount of consideration helps people to experience life
On the Bright Side. I'll look forward to meeting you here again, next
Friday. Have a great week!Nancy Wood is a freelance writer living in
The Villages with her husband, Sterling. She can be reached at
Villagewriter@...