When you are hard of hearing many may think you would cherish any sounds you can hear.  I will say for me there are sounds I miss, sounds I am glad are gone, and sounds I hate to hear.  I know there are lists out there that others have written of what sounds they miss or can hear or don’t hear and this is my list and my observations.

Sounds I don’t miss.  You might think any loss of sound would be a sad thing…nope.  A huge one for me is my husbands snoring.  I hate snoring and it can cause me to lose my mind.  Since my hearing had dropped this year the minor snoring as I will call it is gone.  So nice and has helped our marriage.  Now when my husband starts his louder than a freight train snoring that is still there and that will drive me to a padded cell but at least the more minor stuff is gone.  Yes I am so glad that sound is gone.

Sounds I miss.  These are not interesting sounds but they are sounds you take for granted.  I don’t hear the microwave beep unless I am standing right next to it.  That is the joke in our household.  I will say to my family, “Let me know when the microwave beeps” and my daughter or husband will respond, “It just did.”  This always seems to get a laugh since it always seems to be at the same time.  Now if my family would just step up and tend to the food that would solve the problem also.

Have you ever noticed how often you take cooking and kitchen noises for granted.  I have started to fill the sink with water to clean dishes more than once and you walk away.  You don’t hear that water running, that sink will overflow.  I don’t think when you have normal hearing you think of these things.  You just think you should be paying attention to these things like running water, or browning hamburger on the stove.  I truly believe that it is the sounds of these tasks that keep your mind intuned with the task at hand.  When you are a mom, cook, and nurse for skinned knees, food can get burned and sinks can overflow when the sounds of those tasks aren’t registered and your mind is not pulled back to those things.  So yes I will admit it I have about flooded my kitchen and burned browning food on the stove.  Maybe some of it is being distracted but after hearing from other folks I believe not hearing it was a large factor.

Mumbling, whispering and tight lip talkers have always been a problem for me since a child.  Playing the game where people whisper a secret to you and you need to pass it on.  Yep I was the kid that usually ruined that game.  Any whispering, mumbling or someone who doesn’t enunciate their words have always been a difficult situation for me.  Unfortunately my daughter is one of these.  She mumbles and then trails off at the end of a sentence.  I am trying to change this and let her know mom doesn’t understand.  I am scared she is at the age where that is just fine that mom doesn’t hear all of what is going on.

One last sound I am going to write about is one I hear but dread.  It is the phone, my home phone or cell phone.  I have HUGE anxiety when it comes to the phone.  I will gladly call my mom or grandma and talk but it is on my terms.  There is either no one home, or the TV is off, the setting is my decision.  The anxiety is huge when there are tons of people around or other factors and that phone rings.  It sends an instant panic through my soul.  I have more than once answered the phone and get so frustrated I just throw the phone to my husband and he has to talk.  When working at school this week, and I HATE those old wall phones.  The phone rang with 25 loud kids talking.  Yeah this isn’t going to go well.  I can go whole weeks at school with no calls yesterday was not one, or two, or even three there were 5 phone calls that all came when the room was full and loud.  Wow talk about the sweaty palms, and the tight chest.  I got through it but the people on the other side must of thought I was not paying attention.  I must have asked WHAT, and can you repeat that about 10 times.  I got through the day and I was happy to say goodbye to that phone.  That is why I love texting.  There are still a few people I need to get on the texting wagon instead of calling.  Oh well another thing to work on.

There are always going to be obstacles in every part of life and with every human being on earth.  These are just a few of the sound obstacles I thought of.  To hear my kids whisper I LOVE YOU would be wonderful but it is something I have never heard.  But seeing their little faces and their little hands grabbing my face is plenty enough to melt my heart.