From the Lefthand Corner: The hearing impaired are a silent minority

As with other disability groupings, we may need to become less silent in order to improve our lot.

Countless times every day, we are faced with the negative choice of asking people to repeat themselves, or go without knowing what other people said.

Grandchildren cannot understand why Grandpa doesn’t respond to their excited utterances - even after Grandpa asks them to repeat themselves several times. Nor can they understand why they talk, but get no response.

Busy store clerks get frustrated when they have to repeat several times what others hear and respond to in routine exchanges.

Watching TV means focusing on closed captioning (when available) to keep up, and wishing people would talk a little slower so we can read what they are saying.

Music enjoyment is severely diminished. One might hear the melody with less appreciation of tone, but almost totally miss the lyrics.

Even with amplification, we miss a lot of content of speeches and sermons. It’s gotten a bit better with masks disappearing so we can revert to the lip reading that we do subconsciously. If we are fortunate enough to have good hearing aids, they are always subject to background noise that drowns out what we are trying to hear.

In crowd situations, if you can turn up the volume on a hearing device, it increases the background noise volume and becomes counterproductive.

We are limited in conversations unless circumstances are ideal, and it helps if people speaking look directly at us when speaking. The more participants, the more we are excluded.

I’ve often thought of getting a large button to wear. It would be with neon or flashing lettering. The colors would be bright - blaze red or orange, or maybe revive the old chartreuse that we saw so much 50 or 60 years ago. The message would be: "I can’t hear you. Please talk louder and clearer and slower to me."

I’ve seen, and worn, a few buttons or stickers over the years that say “hearing impaired” or “please talk louder," which have a little effect for a short period of time. But what is needed is something universal that becomes readily recognizable, like the white cane for the sight impaired.

London’s Gatwick Airport in 2016 started and Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport recently followed in providing a simple badge with an image of sunflowers to those check-in passengers with unseen disabilities. It alerts airport personnel to the described disability and the need to accommodate.

An assistant director of customer experience at the Metropolitan Airports Commission described it as “a discreet way for travelers to send a message to the people who need to know about their hidden disability."

I’d prefer something less discreet than the soft green and yellow sunflowers. I’d rather have a blatant, colorful, highly visible way of advising any person I encounter that if they want me to hear what they are saying, they must speak loudly and clearly and slowly!

Much good can come if other more talented and inventive souls can and will devise a device that can become generally accepted and used as a way of saying, “Please help those who are hearing impaired.”

It sure would be nice to hear and enjoy more of the pleasant sound and verbalization that flows all around us.

1/5: Don Bye, columnist

2/5: Countless times every day, we are faced with the negative choice of asking people to repeat themselves, or go without knowing what other people said. Photo illustration, Shutterstock, Inc.

3/5: I’ve often thought of getting a large button to wear. It would be with neon or flashing lettering. The colors would be bright - blaze red or orange, or maybe revive the old chartreuse that we saw so much 50 or 60 years ago. The message would be: "I can’t hear you. Please talk louder and clearer and slower to me." Photo illustration, Shutterstock, Inc.

4/5: I’ve seen, and worn, a few buttons or stickers over the years that say “hearing impaired” or “please talk louder," which have a little effect for a short period of time. But what is needed is something universal that becomes readily recognizable, like the white cane for the sight impaired. Photo illustration, Shutterstock, Inc.

5/5: I’d prefer something less discreet than the soft green and yellow sunflowers. I’d rather have a blatant, colorful, highly visible way of advising any person I encounter that if they want me to hear what they are saying, they must speak loudly and clearly and slowly! Photo illustration, Shutterstock, Inc.