My hearing is not the best, well actually, it's pretty lousy.
So, situations occur...like the other day, I was being introduced to a woman. She said, "Oh, I've heard about you, you're quite the breeder". I thought it was an odd thing to say but that is what I heard so I responded, with a bit of a laugh, "Well, we do have four children, but I'm not sure I qualify as much of a breeder." My husband and the friend making the introductions were saying "No, reader, reader--not breeder" while the lady was looking at me like I was nuts. And my daughter, who is ever so sensitive to social miscues, just walked away shaking her head.
Sometimes I have whole conversations with people and haven't heard anything they said. This can be construed as laziness on my part but you can only say, "what" or "I can't hear you" so many times. In some situations, I do get lazy about trying to listen. This especially happens if I'm at a public event and I can't hear the speaker. I just quit trying and go off into my own thoughts. I find I also do this when I'm in a group of people and there are a lot of cross conversations.
One of my concerns is that when that as hearing becomes more difficult, I retreat more into my own world because its easier. I don't ask people to speak up, I don't fight to be "heard", I tire of trying to hear.
None of this is written to elicit any pity---I don't feel bad about it except that it precludes working as a private investigator or spy--both of which I've thought would be fun. Its hard to get good intel when you can't hear what the bad guys are saying.
