Are you DEAF?!!

[Kiwi]

I only have 30 % hearing on my right ear, if your standing behind me on my right side I just cant hear you (I had/have frequent ear infections) that reduce my hearing ability even more, during a bad infection I can totally lose the hearing in my right ear and its reduced in my left.

its like putting earplugs in your ears, you know theres sound but its muffled and hard to make out.... I also have a really hard time figuring out where sound is coming from... if my phone is ringing in another room I cant "follow" the sound to locate it

its frustrating and I still have most of my hearing, I can function almost totally normally in everyday life. I just alter my behaviour (sitting at the front of the class, watching peoples lips, my family taps me on the sholder to make sure they have my attention etc just small things that help)

I actually find it funny when people have asked in frustration "Are you deaf or something" becuase it shames them when I say yes, good way to teach them some damn tolerance. Im lucky though, in my family, hearing is a problem for my brother as well so growing up it was normal....I never felt odd or treated differently unless I had to put ear plugs in for swimming lessons

try not to worry about those girls and what they said, they sound nasty and insecure, usually thats a sign that they have been badly treated in their own lives. Instead be PROUD of how well you can function even with your hearing not being "normal" at least you have a genuine reason " to not listen to people, for other people they have to resort to selective hearing.

[Broomjockey]

First, the levity. In response to the colourblindness bit, my dad once had to take a test to get his class 1 drivers license, and it included getting tested for colour blindness, so he had me look up a bunch of sample tests on the web so he could figure out what to look for. Anyone who's taken those tests knows why that's kinda funny.
And when I got my last eye-exam a couple months ago, the doc did a thing where some letters were shown in green, some in red. With one eye, I could see both fine, the other, I couldn't see green for beans.
They never really told me much about my prescription, other than if I wanted I could either get glasses, contacts, or laser eye surgery. I get my new glasses, love them to death, but every now and then, I would get green reflections from behind me. I had no idea what was going on, because the lights behind me were normal, white light bulbs. Finally it dawned on me my glasses must have some kind of correction for that red-green problem I had. I never knew glasses could do that, as none of my other pairs did, and I've had the problem since grade 7 at least.

On a more on topic and serious note, my grandmother was completely deaf in her left ear, and I'm having problems hearing speech from time to time, and it is becoming more frequent. People think that I'm faking, or ignoring them because I can hear other noises fine, including some that other people can't hear. I should really get it checked, in case it's something reversable, or at least something that can be compensated for.

[Coconut]

I guess I'll throw my story in here.

When I was 7 years old, I went deaf. They don't know what caused it... but my hearing just slowly slipped away. I wasn't totally deaf, but I couldn't hear very well at all.

I was able to have surgery and tubes put in that corrected it. Now, as an adult, my hearing problems are very mild if not obsolete.

Anyhoo, one day as a 7 year old, my mom took me to a local waterpark. One of the slides was temporarily closed. There was no sign that it was closed, no chain, etc. I put my innertube on it preparing to go down, when one of the probably teenage lifeguards started yelling at me. I have no clue was he was saying, because the first thing I honest to God heard was, "WHAT ARE YOU DEAF?"

I still remember that to this day. I cried, but only because he yelled at me. As a kid, I didn't put it together what he had said - it didn't dawn on me until years later that I actually had been deaf and what he'd said. (If that makes sense)

People should really be cautious when accusing someone of being deaf.

[Kiwi]

I have a similar problem, Luna. I can't shut out background noises. It is difficult to carry on a conversation with anyone if there is a lot of machinery running or people talking in the room.

my hearing specialist (at auckland hospital) calls that "cocktail party syndrome" its very common, its basically a fatigued ear (like lazy eye) and gets worse with caffine, dehydration and tiredness. It just gets tired of being overworked.

you can train it by listening to a complex song and trying to pick out the different insturments (this is all stuff he told me) like bass, guitar, drums etc.

[Liz]

Like Amarisse and buglady, I have an auditory processing problem. I also didn't tell anyone at work about it because I was concerned that people might think I was lying if I heard some stuff and not others.

I was fortunate enough that it didn't cause too many problems at work when I served customers, partly due to lip reading and other reasons. Phone calls were a problem though, especially when you'd pick up and hear "I'd like to order a navy skirt in size 16 and the number is 123456 and my name is lala have you got it" said in one breath. But then I doubt many people would have managed to follow all that. They then had the cheek to sound grumpy when I asked them to repeat it slooowly.

The main problem was in another job when I had to take names and addresses. It was very very hard and the customers were getting cross, but I was young and felt awkward about asking to do something else.

BTW: Trouble hearing in background noise can be due to tiredness, but it came also be a symptom of an auditory processing disorder and/or hearing loss. If you think you're having excessive trouble hearing in background noise, get yourself checked out.

[LostMyMind]

The fact that I'm moderately proficient in sign language doesn't hurt either...

I hope you mean real sign language and not just the cuss signs.

[Sunsetsky]

I can't hear very well. I went to a doctor who specializes in hearing (audiologist?) and he told me it was because of sinus problems. Usually I'll have to ask people to repeat themselves because I can't hear them clearly. Some customers do get annoyed about it. I think I annoyed another coworker the other day because she had to repeat herself two or three times. But I've never been asked "Are you deaf???" But I have been told by family that I need to get my hearing checked again.

Anyways, I would report those employees who are harassing you. It's disrespectful and considered harassment. People like that piss me off.

[Ree]

My husband is very hard of hearing.
He probably should have hearing aids.

A few years ago, he even had to have tubes put in his ears.

Now, they are probably just as bad as before the surgery.

For Christmas, I bought him a T-Shirt that said, "No need to speak up, I was ignoring you."

There are times when I have trouble hearing. I work with a girl who talks very low and I always have to ask her to repeat.

When my daughter calls me on her cell phone, I don't know if she isn't holding it right to speak into it, or what, but I have to ask her to say stuff 3 or 4 times before I can make it out.

Actually, a lot of time I am a few seconds longer reacting to stuff because I have to translate it in my head as to what I heard and what they actually said.

[bean]

I haven't had my hearing checked since elementary school, but I definately have some hearing loss.

My ears started ringing about the time I discovered loud music - and they haven't stopped since. Ever since then, I sometimes have had to ask people to repeat themselves, but it got a LOT worse after a seizure last year.. I basically can't make words out at all if someone's on my right side. Selective hearing comes in handy sometimes of course.

As for colorblindness - I mix up red and green occasionally (and they'll look identical at times), but the only full time thing I've noticed is everything has a blueish tint out of one eye, ever since I was a kid.

[amarisse]

yep i have add as well, baglady. To make matters even worse i have a graphomotorintegration problem so my writing sucks too. Makes it funny i'm to get oral tests because of my writing but i'm supposed to get written because of my hearing finally found the joy of a laptop which brings it all together.

From the mouth of babes:
I worked in a classroom for handicapped kids and i was able to use my problems to up their own self esteem which was extremly cool for some of them. The biggest hit was that they could tie their shoes 1 looped and at 25 i still cant because of fine mother issues.

[0oAmericanGirl]

I had a similar incident when I had a bad head cold. If the store caught on fire I wouldn't have heard the alarm system. I had a customer that I coudn't understand or actually I don't even think she said anything to me. I was helping to bag her order and supposidly she said somthing to me that I didn't hear and of course I didn't respond. She calims that she repeated what she said but, again I didn't hear her so she hit me on the arm (yes she didn't touch me she put alot of force into it) and said,"you're a very rude person". I was like WTF you just hit me and I'm rude? I yelled (and didn't realize it),"Why the hell did you hit me?"... oops. All of the customers in the line looked at me like I was evil. She said that she asked me how I was doing 2 times and I didn't respond. I explained to her that I have a cold and my ears are stopped up so I'm not hearing very well. She looked embarrassed and rushed out with her order.

[LostMyMind]

i still cant because of fine mother issues.

Speaking of fine mother issues. My mother is left handed, I'm right handed. Want to guess how many things I do left handed Have you ever seen someone write with their right hand in a left hand script style. My handwriting can be fun to watch, the switches between left, right, block, right, left. All in one word too. I thought the way I tied my knots was normal, until someone pointed out that the knots were lefties.

[Broomjockey]

Speaking of fine mother issues. My mother is left handed, I'm right handed. Want to guess how many things I do left handed Have you ever seen someone write with their right hand in a left hand script style. My handwriting can be fun to watch, the switches between left, right, block, right, left. All in one word too. I thought the way I tied my knots was normal, until someone pointed out that the knots were lefties.

Heh, both my parents are right handed. I'm a lefty. My parents couldn't even teach me to tie my shoes. I had to learn the theory behind shoe tying before I could make it work.
Also, I started out writing by starting with my left hand, and at the middle of the page, switching to my right. Teachers quickly tried to disabuse me of that habit. Too bad for them I insisted on my left. My writing still sucks.

Where it all tends to get really confusing, is some activities, I'll do left, but similar activities, I'll do right handed. Bowling? Lefty! Throwing? Righty! Batting? Lefty! I wear my watch on my right wrist. I open doors with my left, making it kinda awkward most times as I have to swing it across my body that way.

[Seanette]

My husband, especially when very tired, has an oddity in his speech recognition. He'll be aware that I'm talking to him, trying to understand me, and completely unable to parse speech. Yes, I'm speaking clearly, and in English (the only language either of us is fully fluent in).

[Bob Blaylock]

My husband, especially when very tired, has an oddity in his speech recognition. He'll be aware that I'm talking to him, trying to understand me, and completely unable to parse speech. Yes, I'm speaking clearly, and in English (the only language either of us is fully fluent in).

Did you say something?