Aging is not for the weak. I experienced a revelation this week that resulted in a complete overhaul of my TV enjoyment. OK, so it’s not “that” book of revelations but it has changed my life anyway. So, here’s the story:
For the past few years I have been bothered by a constant noise in my ears only to discover something called tinnitus and many of you may already be familiar with it. This, by the by, is completely different from the little voice in my head. Tinnitus is annoying yes, but otherwise relatively harmless. Surprisingly enough, it doesn’t seem to interfere with my ability to hear. According to my doctor, our brain simply accepts this as part of life and we wander through our days oblivious to its effects. I went to a purveyor of hearing aids and had the very strong impression that one of those devices would not appreciably alter the tinnitus symptoms and so dodged that bullet.
About a year later I began annoying people by requesting that they repeat themselves as they are often mumbling or speaking at a low volume. This happens especially when there is background noise like in social settings or at work meetings. I do it at home all the time too but I’m pretty sure that is because I have always benefited from “selective hearing” in order to survive the onslaught of questions and requests. “BOB!” You know the voice and a case of deaf and dumb immediately sets in. And yes, I have left an opening with the word dumb. You’re welcome.
Over the past year or so, I have lost interest in many TV shows that I used to enjoy. I find myself struggling with the accents and background music tracks. It is not a simple case of increasing the volume. I can’t damn well understand what the characters are saying and consequently, can’t follow the plots and so, why watch? I used to ask my wife to tell me what the character had said but that was happening too frequently and I simply stopped asking and watching. My Kindle device doesn’t require listening to, so I would read while she watched the various shows. The funny thing is, this doesn’t happen during sporting events; I can hear the announcers perfectly clearly. The same holds true for news and weather programs and many others. It seems to be a significant problem only during dramas and really is heightened with foreign accents and background sound tracks.
Over the past few weeks, I have watched Leanne begin to experience the same thing, with the same kinds of shows. The sound bar settings get adjusted in an attempt to help with the ability to hear the dialogue to no effect. We blame the TV, the producers, sound engineers, millennials and Trump but still suffer from the inability to properly follow the show. Now, I would like to take credit, but she will read this and complain if I don’t tell you that Leanne had a brilliant thought the other night. After much frustration at trying to follow the show CASTLE ROCK, listening to the characters mumble their way through lines, she suggested adding closed captioning to the screen – WOW, what a difference. I am actually interested in watching the show.
Last Saturday, we found that the next season of HOMELAND is finally available on NETFLIX and decided to watch the final few episodes of the previous season to prepare for it. Truth be told, I stopped paying any attention last year because I could no longer follow the plot and when I began experiencing the same frustration, asked Leanne to add closed captioning. It made a huge difference for both of us. The foreign accents were understandable as I read the dialogue along the bottom of the screen when necessary. No music tracks or traffic noise to interfere with my enjoyment of the program. I have discovered TV again!
Now, if I could get the people at work to film their questions and I could add closed captioning to it, life would be perfect. On the other hand, it may be time to visit the hearing aid store again. I don’t know why I fight this reality so much. Both of my parents suffered from hearing deficits and I understand the frustration from both sides now.
The revelations continue to unfold. And an apology to my mother and father for showing my frustration and impatience from time to time.
Let’s celebrate today, this weekend and all year long. Canada’s birthday – our 150th at that – is reason to rejoice. Canada is an improbability in so many ways. I’m not sure it would be possible to create a country in today’s world like Canada. Seemingly, everything that could cause failure is present but despite the geography, languages, (far more than just English and French), cultural differences, crazy weather, enormous wilderness areas, mountains, rivers, mosquitoes, artery hardening poutine, economic challenges, political silliness, and everything else that conspires to make Canada impossible, we’re still here. 150 years and still rocking on! Happy Birthday Canada!
For someone who works 3 – 4 days a week in an office sitting in a chair and staring at a computer screen for 7.5 hours a day – well it hits home. I am very fortunate that I have one of those adjustable desks that allows me to raise it and stand whenever I wish, which is now much more frequently.