Hearing Difficulties
So far, I've talked about a couple of problems I've had with learning music under the Memory Problems discussion and under Hand Pain. It's time to add another problem to the bunch. How many of us have hearing difficulties?
As a girl I had my hearing tested and the tester commented that I probably didn't sit next to the band at football games. I simply said that I didn't go to football games period as they were too noisy. At that time my hearing was extremely good and I heard sounds that most people couldn't according to the test. Dog whistles could drive me crazy. I'd howl when my brother would start blowing on one at the other end of the house. Now I don't hear those sounds. Where and what happened to my hearing?
During my high school years, I started falling. I tripped over my own feet, fell down stairs with my head thumping as it hit each step. Fall, after fall. I didn't even learn to drive a car until I was in my late 20's as my sense of balance and where the car was on the road just didn't work together well. I have even been hospitalized for vertigo and finally found out that I do have a problem with the middle ear. I found out how easily the bones of the inner ear can be broken and hearing loss develop from something like a slap in the face. Bouncing my head on the steps or slamming it into the ground as I came off a balking horse, etc. and so on, didn't do my ears any good at all.
In college, along with the continued falling problems, I began having severe sinus infections which caused ear blockage along with internal and external ear infections. This caused scarring on the ear drums. In my mid thirties, I finally had my tonsils removed which helped cure me of the chronic sinus infections. But the damage was already done.
Recent hearing tests have shown that half tones tend not to register anymore and hearing patterns in music is increasingly more difficult.
So now I not only don't remember tunes, I don't even hear many of the notes that make up the tune. And it is probably one of the reasons that I rely on words for rhythm as I know how a word is normally pronounced and the change in rhythm that occurs when the word is sung registers more with me than simple instrumental music.
And of course, I've wondered whether the head slamming has played a part in my memory problems. I can't imagine that it has done the Swiss Cheese I call a brain, any good at all. ;-)
So this thread's about hearing problems, difficulties, or loss.
As a girl I had my hearing tested and the tester commented that I probably didn't sit next to the band at football games. I simply said that I didn't go to football games period as they were too noisy. At that time my hearing was extremely good and I heard sounds that most people couldn't according to the test. Dog whistles could drive me crazy. I'd howl when my brother would start blowing on one at the other end of the house. Now I don't hear those sounds. Where and what happened to my hearing?
During my high school years, I started falling. I tripped over my own feet, fell down stairs with my head thumping as it hit each step. Fall, after fall. I didn't even learn to drive a car until I was in my late 20's as my sense of balance and where the car was on the road just didn't work together well. I have even been hospitalized for vertigo and finally found out that I do have a problem with the middle ear. I found out how easily the bones of the inner ear can be broken and hearing loss develop from something like a slap in the face. Bouncing my head on the steps or slamming it into the ground as I came off a balking horse, etc. and so on, didn't do my ears any good at all.
In college, along with the continued falling problems, I began having severe sinus infections which caused ear blockage along with internal and external ear infections. This caused scarring on the ear drums. In my mid thirties, I finally had my tonsils removed which helped cure me of the chronic sinus infections. But the damage was already done.
Recent hearing tests have shown that half tones tend not to register anymore and hearing patterns in music is increasingly more difficult.
So now I not only don't remember tunes, I don't even hear many of the notes that make up the tune. And it is probably one of the reasons that I rely on words for rhythm as I know how a word is normally pronounced and the change in rhythm that occurs when the word is sung registers more with me than simple instrumental music.
And of course, I've wondered whether the head slamming has played a part in my memory problems. I can't imagine that it has done the Swiss Cheese I call a brain, any good at all. ;-)
So this thread's about hearing problems, difficulties, or loss.