my-ears-are-burning

[my-ears-are-burning]

Also, for those wondering, I'm still proudly deaf and proudly asking people to repeat themselves~

[my-ears-are-burning]

I read a comic recently that I wound up getting thoroughly invested in. It involved a world where people get powers that seem to sometimes disappear on their own, but otherwise people learn how to control them, and one such power is "Hyper Sense", specifically hearing.

Now, on the one hand, I love the casualness of how it's handled. This world also has "inhibitors" that can suppress these abilities, so naturally those with super hearing would no longer have them...except the two characters we see in it (so far) also have hearing aids and one canonically uses sign language, so their hearing, when their ability is suppressed, is equal to being deaf in some way. I find this a really interesting presentation that I haven't seen before, and I'm so for it.

On the other hand, though...? Part of me feels confused about how I feel about it. Like, "If his power weren't suppressed, he could hear so fucking much, right? And if it was controlled, his hearing would easily be better than average."

Part of being deaf (but not inherently so; I have to emphasise that) is that we can't control our hearing; sure, things are quieter for us, but there's so much difficulty in living in a hearing world that is out of our control. In a world where someone could hear more but they haven't learnt to control it yet, and are functionally deaf when that ability is suppressed? It's an interesting confusion.

I think I'll grow to unequivocally love this idea (that a super-hearing person would be deaf sometimes because their hearing is not under their control), but I'll need time to settle the idea in my mind.

[my-ears-are-burning]

I don't know if I talked much on it before, but hard-of-hearing rep in media is so barren...

...but what feels worse? Deaf rep in general is so many league under blind rep. And I'll never throw blind rep under the bus, but how does media so often give random characters glasses but not even a single hearing aid?

Mind you, I kinda see it: The amount of people I see randomly with glasses far surpasses anyone I see with hearing aids. I could do a grocery shop and see 5-10 people with glasses, but it'd take 10 visits to even see one person with hearing aids (and it's usually an older person with age-related deafness)

I just...why is deafness so hidden compared to blindness, despite hearing being considered one of the most well-known senses alongside sight? It confuses me.

[my-ears-are-burning]

Been silent (heheh), but I'm still certainly alive (and just as deaf as always~)

[my-ears-are-burning]

Kill my ears right now, please

[my-ears-are-burning]

Something weird for me to think about:

My hearing will never be similar to hearing people.

As a fun fact, I've been wearing hearing aids since I was 2. Because of that, it was my norm hearing-wise for almost 20 years. 20 years of hearing through hearing aids as though it was the same as average human hearing.

Turns out, a few years of thinking made me realise it's plain not. A few more years again, I realised the statement at the top.

My hearing aids? They're useful tool. They let me get by pretty well with hearing people (and my hard-of-hearing siblings~). I may still ask "what'd you say" often, but not nearly as much without them since it helps give me enough extra sound to understand them.

But I spent years thinking "My hearing aids let me hear like normal people." (verbatim; I've even got a few comics using that exact wording), when the fact is that was never possible.

My hearing was never going to be like a hearing person. Hearing aids are pretty amazing; the idea that, with a bunch of materials combined in a specific way, you could amplify sounds that "fill in the missing pieces" for a deaf person? It's incredible.

But it's like scaling a small art piece. It's already lacking the details you'd expect from pieces drawn large to begin with. Scaling it up to look like a larger piece still comes with the absences indicative of its nature. It's just less obvious because another tool is smoothing out the "blanks".

It'd be one thing if I thought of my hearing as being less sensitive from the get-go (or at least a few years in; I've been deaf my whole life), but the fact that, though I was deaf from birth, I never thought of "deafness + hearing aids = normal hearing" as a falsehood until a few years back? It's a strange thought.

If there's one thing that brings a massive amount of solace, though?

"My hearing is different to everyone else's"

That I'll never be close to those whose hearing are within statistical standard? It's just not important. How I experience the world hearing-wise is unique. Even compared to other deaf people, there might be a handful whose hearing is similar by measurement, and that's not accounting for brain differences in how the processing developed.

My thoughts on my hearing may be wide and varied - and I've had some pretty self-destructive thoughts on the matter - but knowing that my hearing really is unique to me? There's something special about it.

[my-ears-are-burning]

Minor Complaint: Capitalism took away the story-telling of captions/subtitles.

I mean, there's often incorrect captions. Words that are missing, sentences that are shortened, rewording to make things cheaper.

But where's the descriptive punctuation? The accurate word choice fitted with creative formatting?

I'm reminded of a well-known series that creatively described sounds, and how it was described as a cool and interesting thing.

And I wonder: How many captioners want to tell the story accurately? How many want to enhance the story through creative grammar? And yet, there's no chance to share that because they'll get sacked if they do?

It's not just a deafness issue, but seriously? Why don't we caption-enjoyers get to enjoy the creative direction the vocal-enjoyers get to experience?

It's frankly unfair (and I blame capitalism)

[my-ears-are-burning]

For anyone worried about this, no need to worry; hearing is still like it's always been

Anyone else wanna tear out their inner ears and become completely deaf instead of partially? No-one else?

[my-ears-are-burning]

Anyone else wanna tear out their inner ears and become completely deaf instead of partially? No-one else?

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A bit of a stranger post, but: Has anyone learnt that ears in general just...aren't even really noticed? Besides earrings, ears just wind up being hidden to the average person's awareness.

I haven't exactly met enough people to really know the truth behind it, but from the few people I have known beyond meeting them? It's something they just don't genuinely think about unless prompted about (and that includes anything around them, excluding earrings).

No wonder people don't know anything about deafness.

[my-ears-are-burning]

i appreciate you

people with Deaf accent

people with speech impediments

people who are semi speaking

people who are non speaking

people who are unable to be understood

people who use AAC

people who need help to speak

people who are selectively mute

people who need surgeries for speech

people who use signed language

people who communicate through sounds

people with electrolarynx

disabled people with speech problems or accents as a result of their disability

<3

[my-ears-are-burning]

So I may have discovered something:

How is it that the only animated series I've seen any character wear something close to hearing aids is Helluva Boss?

(Also that purple hoodie is something I want)

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A question unrelated to being deaf: How does one separate the artist from the artwork in the modern age?

[my-ears-are-burning]

Hey y'all,

I'm still livin' and in the in-between deaf-wise~

[my-ears-are-burning]

Anyone else edit art (for private use) to add disabilities, conditions, or physical features you have because you like to see it?

[my-ears-are-burning]

Weird question

Anyone ever found someone (of the preferred gender) attractive because of their hearing aids? More so, has anyone ever even found another person who wears hearing aids (including cochlear implants(/processors)) attractive?

[my-ears-are-burning]

Something funny: I've never really had to worry about hair and hearing aids, despite having longer hair. If I hear the rustling, it's not all that loud (though wind is still a nemesis heheh).

But, for some reason, sometimes one of my hearing aids feels weird in my ear, like it doesn't quite fit, and I'm suspecting it's my hair. Sometimes, they feel a little odd when it's tied back, but sometimes it's just when it's styled (mostly tied back, with the front parted to two long locks to the side of my face).

Hair and hearing aids make for weird interactions sometimes.