My Mum's hearing deterioration is a natural result of ageing. She resisted using a hearing aid. Listening to related experiences of headache-inducing echoes and static sounds, she wanted nothing of it.

She can still hear. We got used to raising our voices at (not against, even though it may have sounded that way) each other. Then she attended her first post-pandemic seminar by her favourite speaker. He used a microphone to speak in a hall. All Mum heard was garbled noises. The hall was full of people she knew but she'd never been more isolated.

To cut a long story short, we went to an audiologist. The first time the aid was fitted on Mum, she turned to the audiologist and said, "I hear you .. tapping your fingers on the table .. and shuffling your feet when you walk." Mum beamed at the audiologist gently introducing her to the ambient sounds that had been lost to her. We walked outdoors to continue with the testing, and Mum said, "I hear birds singing."

I thought of how I'd come to take all these sounds for granted and the line from Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence, "People hearing without listening" played in my head.

Mum's still testing out her hearing aid, getting it fine-tuned. She's experiencing all the stimuli around her.

Note:

1. Video clip to the song "Sound of Silence". This one's sung by powerhouse Tom Ball. Enjoy!

2. Also attached, an informative podcast on hearing loss.

https://www.bfm.my/podcast/bigger-picture/health-and-living/healthy-ageing-hear-me-out-this-is-how-you-spot-hearing-loss


Postscript added on 10 Oct 2023: Note: Thank you to those who have written to let me know you enjoy reading my column but daren't take a lesson because there are parts you don't really understand. I assure you we'll always speak at a level which suits you so that we can enjoy a casual conversation. Also, we can go through words and sentences that are difficult so that we learn together. Perhaps, they will be easy then and we'll always have something to talk about. No stress!