Hearing Loss

While swimming at the beach I saw a deaf couple wading through the water nearby. The man was happy to have reached a school of fish which he could see swimming around him in the clear waist-deep water and wanted to tell his companion however she had turned her head before he could do so and despite them being only about 10 meters apart he had no chance of contacting her. A few minutes later she was standing near some limestone formations and I think she wanted him to take a picture or at least have a look however once again although he was only 10 meters or so away he had turned around and was heading back to the shore so she had no chance of contacting him.

Not that I didn’t already appreciate my ability to hear but this made me do so even more. I hope it will also remind you of just how precious your hearing along with the rest of your senses and bodily functions are and encourages you to better appreciate and take care of them. Hopefully in the near future waterproof smart watches will make the lives of deaf people much more convenient via haptic “Hey look over here!” alerts, and in the not too distant future hearing loss will be curable. After I got home I looked for a good hearing charity on Charity Navigator and found Health Hearing Foundation and made a small donation. They have a nice 6 minute video about how hearing works on their website.