8 Month Old Deaf Baby's Reaction To Cochlear Implant Being Activated

[hunter]

56. I'm not deaf but whenever two or more people are speaking I can't process anything.

I've spent too much time in pubs, restaurants, and other places where many people are talking and I only sit there and watch with no more than a vague understanding of what everyone is going on about.

If I'm engaged in some non-verbal activity I don't even hear the language of a single person speaking. It takes some effort and maybe a couple of seconds to engage the part of my brain that translates sounds into words and meaning. I usually don't extract the lyrics in music either. Songs I've heard in the background for years, I'll suddenly recognize them and know what they are about once I've read the lyrics.

For years I tried to listen to talk and news radio as some kind of mental exercise, but I can never stay engaged. My attention wanders and the words turn garbled.

I'm most at peace in a silent or at least a non-verbal mode but I'd really be uncomfortable without audible environmental cues; hearing a knock on the door, the dogs' and birds' alarm calls, etc.. If I could turn off my hearing as easily as I close my eyes I'd feel very insecure not knowing what was going on around me.

I think I'd like to live in a quiet world where everyone spoke sign language.

Thanks for this video. It's given me quite a bit to think about.