For the last week I've not been able to hear out of my left ear. At all. My doctor is working on it and it's more than likely not a permanent state, but in the meantime this unholy suckage is unpleasantness' ugly step-cousin. Fortunately, it's not my phone ear (yes, I have one), so I can still work with our clients without interruption or distraction. So there's that.
Since I was a little kid I've had a particular fondness for my sense of hearing. Maybe it's because my eyesight makes Mr. Magoo look like he has the optical precision of a Navy S.E.A.L. Or it could be that I have a weird affinity for the nuance of different voices. For instance, some people's words get sticky when their mouths are dry (just listen to NPR host Michele Norris on "The World" to hear what it sounds like when a person hasn't had a drink of water in six months), or that certain accents are most assuredly not the person's accent of origin (a friend of mine moved to place known for its distinct accent about a year ago and somehow adopted the region's dialect in the span of a week. NOT POSSIBLE)? Have you ever been talking to a person who's telling you something important and completely lost the meaning of their words due to your preoccupation with how their thin, tiny lips are forming the sounds you're hearing? Because I have.
So, this week has been an exercise in adjustment to say the least. I'm grateful that it's just the one ear and there's no pain or balance issue, though it's proved to be troublesome in that I tend to sleep on what has become my good ear, so this morning Jason had to come in the room to wake me up because I couldn't hear the alarm. That was...strange. All of my usual "things" are fixations that I can indulge at will, except with this one, I may have to accept that I'll move forward with only half the tools to fixate on voices and music and weird outbursts this town makes from time to time. I can usually tell you what key someone's laughter is in. Joyful laughter tends to be a major while wry or ironic chortles hang in the minors. I can still hear that, but I couldn't tell you when I'm a D-sharp or a B-flat right now.
Oh well. I guess the important thing here is that I'm still laughing.
2 comments:
I hope your ear returns to normal functionaryness soon! I lost the ability to hear low tones after a Green day concert...talking to men on the phone is damned near impossible anymore.
Is it a pluggage issue? They make a vacuum for that. It is not nice. Trust me.
Ugh.. that happens to be everytime I fly to a lower elevation. It hasn't been such a problem since I am no longer living on a huge plateau (I am 1500 feet lower now) but that is just damn miserable. I finally understood why dogs had the compulsion to scratch at affected parts until they either got better or fell off.
I hope you feel better, stinky.
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