Hass, I always love reading your posts but just like hearing and hearing loss is unique to all, people go to hearing aids for their own reasons as well. He’s not wrong and you’re not wrong. You guys are just in your own place with your own opinions. I happen to agree with the former that speech was the thing that I suffered with bad enough that made me finally get some help. It’s the kind of interpersonal suffering that is especially painful.
Your comment about losing speech comprehension being a source of pain reminds me of something I read that Helen Keller said which I found thought provoking. I imagine you know about her, lost her hearing and sight as a young child around the 1890, learned to work around it, and became world famous as an advocate and author. She was asked which was worse, not having sight or not having hearing. She responded that losing hearing was harder because losing sight disconnects you from the objects around you but losing hearing disconnects you from the people around you. I found that an interesting perspective on the effect of hearing loss and the sense of isolation it imposes on many people.
How would she know. She lost everything at 19 months
I think I disagree strongly with her statement. I have hearing impairment and without glasses, my vision is not good at all. I would far rather be completely deaf than blind!..all day…hands down…no contest…
maybe that’s just me…
Dan
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Think it was HER perspective…
Unless you have both afflictions, you can only offer an opinion. She lived it
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Yeah Dan, my thoughts are similar to yours, if I had a choice over Deaf or Blind, I think, I would choose to see…. But, having said that, years ago I worked as a communicator/guide for 2 folks whom were both profoundly Deaf, and Blind…. I signed on their hands using,” Deaf/Blind Manual”, I recall asking them both, if they had a choice between being Deaf or Blind, what would they choose, without hesitation both said, they would choose to hear, which was not what I thought they would say…… At a guess, perhaps what we long for the most, comes into play when you have a duel sensory loss? I can only say, these 2 clients were an absolute pleasure to work with, their sense of of humour was a joy to behold, their zest for life was amazing, I always think of these 2 very fondly, any woes I have in life, pale into insignificance…… Cheers Kev 
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I was also an interpreter in Oklahoma before I started losing my hearing. I had one deaf/blind client and signed into his hand. He was an amazing person, but quite an ass at the same time. He was quite well educated, and told me that his first pick would be able to see. He also said that choice was a really close call. Anyway the military moved me away from there and shortly after, my hearing started declining to where I could no longer interpret…
Dan
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I can get by being deaf. Legally I am. I can’t get by being blind. Here’s a real life situation. Riding the NYC subway during rush hour. I see a blind man with a walking cane ahead. Being NYC people are in a rush and rude. One bumps into him another bumps into him so he’s been turned around a few times. So he’s basically disoriented and stuck. Step one way he could fall on the tracks. Step another way and down a flight of stairs to a lower platform. I went to help. He took the subway everyday to work but things like this happen. You certainly don’t run into that being deaf. Plus it’s NYC. What if I’m one of those sadistic assholes than purposely sends him the wrong way. This happened maybe 40 years ago but I always remembered it. More power to the guy but a lot of people just walked past him and ignored his predicament. I can’t imagine being in that situation. Hopefully I sent him the right way. I was in the process of losing my hearing. Just kidding.
I pretty confident in saying that I remember reading about this event with Paul McCartney more than 10 years ago, or it may have been the exact similar situation back then.
The thing with Helen Keller is she lost both at a very young age so she really doesn’t remember having either. But if I lived in a dark quiet world I could understand her thinking to hear would be more beneficial. Again that’s her perspective and should be taken for what it’s worth. For those of us that have experienced both and could pick and choose I would think most would pick eyesight. And yes I’m ignoring the previous comment. Sounds like a New Yorker
Helen Keller lived in a different world where there were no accommodations made for the blind or the deaf. For example there was no internet where deaf people can get instant access to loads of people they can communicate with via visual means vice verbal (i.e. text like this). As a person who became acquainted with the powerful of her day she also had financial supporters who provided funds for lifelong nurse / companions that helped steer her through the physical world and keep her from walking into traffic and got her onto the right train and all that. So her perspective isn’t necessarily directly applicable to the modern world or modern peoples everyday lives today. I mention her perspective more from a philosophical angle.
I’ll say this, she lived in a fog where she was totally isolated from the world until a nurse reached through by scratching words on her hands and teaching her a way to communicate. This introduced her to language as a way to break out of the fog of total isolation for good. She still couldn’t see or hear but she could interact with people finally. And that changed her life completely. So it makes sense to me that because she never had either, given a choice she would take the one that would make it easier to communicate (which in her day 100 years ago was audio). That’s not my experience in life but it makes me think about the problem a little differently (hence my saying it was thought provoking).
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Chuck Norris came for a hearing examination,
- the audiogram showed that he could hear at a volume of ( -300dB ) minus300dB
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Most of us have seen the movie and I still say that if you’ve never experienced something than it’s hard to say you prefer one sense over a other. The time that this happened is pretty much irrelevant. And good for Chuck Norris. Now he needs to see the wizard for a brain. I’m not lecturing or saying the woman is wrong. I’m just saying that if you’re asked whether you like chocolate or vanilla ice cream better, how can you say if you’ve never experienced either.
Wow. That is a powerful observation to share. Very well put.
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Again. And for the last time. I promise. How does she know that when she has never experienced either
She might have experienced visual and auditory sensations anyway. Some blind people see flashes, and some deaf people have tinnitus. So she may have known what she was missing, to a degree.
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Kinda like saying if a person was born missing both legs and arms, that person wouldn’t be able to prefer one over the other?
Arms and legs can be seen and evaluated for their advantages. Hearing and sight can’t be evaluated by someone who has neither and has no experience what so ever regarding either. And we can only guess at what she may have experienced. My point being that to those of us that have experienced both most of us would say that sight is more essential. In my case I am practically deaf without my aids. But I can get up and lead a pretty normal life. All bets are off if I’m blind. And yes there are blind people out there but their experience is drastically different
Please abide by your last time promise and stop this conjecturing. Her perception was what it was and this continued discussion is less than useless.
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Fine. Moving on. Remember she said she would choose hearing. Oh and Paul McCartney is like 80 years old. Who doesn’t need hearing aids.