It was a good thing they weren't in a larger group; Myles understood almost immediately how difficult it would have been for her to carry on a conversation if there'd been more people lined up in the seats. In the dim light, she'd only be able to read him, even sitting right next to her, for a short period before eyestrain set in.
Since he didn't plan on this evening being a headache in the making, he pulled out his notepad again, along with a nifty little gadget he'd picked up in preparation for the concert.
Sue started a little when he handed her both the notepad and a lighted magnifying card. Then she smiled as she read Told you I had it covered. Does this work better than straining in the dim light?
"Yes, much," she replied, then noticed he was putting the ear molds back in. "But how are you going to…?" She laughed as he raised a brow at her and pointed at the notepad as if to say "What, you can't write?" I SEE, she signed. YES, I UNDERSTAND. GOOD IDEA. She had to fingerspell the last word for him so he'd understand.
The orchestra started to warm up, and she turned toward the stage. Myles caught her arm, then pulled a second notepad and pen out of his suit jacket. How did you know they were warming up? You weren't facing them.
"Can you hear them?" She gestured to him, then to her ear, and then to the stage.
He tilted his head for a minute, concentrating. Faintly, he wrote. That's because the sound is louder than normal conversation, right?
YES. She wrote the rest instead, since the signs would mean nothing to him. Hearing loss isn't only measured in decibel levels. There's a frequency measure as well.
Oh. So even though your decibel loss is… profound?He showed it to her, and when she nodded, he continued. …it also depends on whether the sound is a high-frequency or low-frequency?
Sue nodded again, and indicated the orchestra. "I'm guessing that all the instruments are warming up, but all I'm getting are snatches of what I think are drums…" She felt his hand on her arm and turned, smiling when he raised a brow and pointed to his ears. "Oh!" SORRY, she signed. I FORGET. She used the notepad to repeat what she'd said, then continued.
The "scale" for hearing loss is measured at speech level. Severe, profound, etc. It doesn't mean that I can't hear anything at all; it simply means that I don't hear voices unless you're at full blast and right next to me. Even then, I won't recognize actual words. Let me give you an example.
She flipped the page over. Let's say the motor on your refrigerator has a frequency of 500Hz, and it runs at a decibel level of 30. If my loss at that particular frequency is 20dbs, I would very likely be able to hear the motor running, but if my loss were 50dbs, I wouldn't be able to.
I SEE. He smiled as he wrote. So if my lawnmower freq = 250 Hz and is 90dbs, then unless your loss at 250Hz is less than 90, you won't hear it.
RIGHT, she replied, and had to fingerspell that one for him as well. My loss is 110 and 120, respectively, but it's also a high-frequency loss.Your ear molds give you a significant decibel loss, but not a frequency one, so you can probably pick out most of the instruments, if you listen closely. But I only hear those that function on low frequencies, like the drums, or the tuba, or an oboe. And since an oboe's range is fairly wide, it fades in and out as well.
He watched her face as she wrote, noticing that her expression changed just as if she were signing it to him. It fascinated him, how the lack of sound brought out such nuances, like the subtleties of the human face.
He drew out of his thoughts when she handed him the notebook again. It depends on a few other things as well. The high ceilings in here will help what sound I can make out to be more… accessible? If the wind is blowing outside, I'll miss things I might have caught if the air was calm, like a semi-truck's air horn. There's no real "flat definition" of what being deaf is. It's a lot a variations.
The traditional "A" being played by 120 various instruments at once made them both turn, and Sue smiled at him. SHOES OFF. She caught his grin in reply.
I felt that even through my shoes. The house lights dimmed further. I'll try to keep my comments to a minimum during the performance. I think this is going to be an adventure. It's already an education.