My Generation Can't Hear a Word You're Saying

Originally submitted by: barcode 2x

I'm pretty deaf. I'm probably not the only one. Every young man, or anyone who has been a young man, should go and get their hearing checked. I'm probably not that bad off. But my wife can watch the TV with the sound so low I can't even hear it. She cranks it down to one or two bars. I can't even tell it's on! When I'm trying to hold a conversation in a crowded room, I nod intelligently, but I can't really hear what the other person is saying. I'm just going through the motions. By the time I turned 21, I was somewhat hard of hearing. I had lived with a rock band for a year. Then I moved in with a guy who put on his own psychedelic light shows to musical accompaniment. I frequented clubs, I had seen a lot of concerts, all of which I loved. I saw the Grateful Dead 13 times! I had a good stereo, and I liked loud music early in the morning, I rocked in my car, and then it was mellow music late into the night. Good times. As you get into your mid-20's, you're settling down, and you're realizing that you did significant damage to your hearing. At one of the Pink Floyd concerts I saw at age 18, I sat next to a big bear of a man who said he saw the Who back in the day. Loudest concert ever! Speakers floor to ceiling! At least that's what I think he said. I was reading his lips. As technology advanced, speakers got smaller, and stereos too. Who would have thought that you could one day your stereo would be smaller than a pack of cigarettes! More portable, more accessible, and more dangerous than ever. I don't know when loud music became the right of every young man in America. Just yesterday I was driving past a young guy in a huge SUV. He was blasting something that sounded like Country music. Blasting it! So in turn, I blasted my NPR. There we were, at a stoplight, proclaiming our listening freedom. We are in a war of stereos. Here I am at 31, and I'm blasting my stereo. It's just so I can hear it! But everyone around me can hear it. I'm polluting the air with Al Green. I'm pissing somebody off, by pumping my Charles Mingus into the atmosphere. You are what you listen to. This is all bubbling to the surface this week. My Grandmother is in her 90's. Her hearing just cut out on her overnight. Overnight! She can't hear in one ear. And the other one is basically shot. She has needed a hearing aid for over 20 years, if you ask me. But now, she can't do without one. I am watching my mother try to mitigate this situation from 1000 miles away. From remote control, trying to intervene in her mother's health care. We suspect that a new medication has caused this damage to her hearing. Turns out that too much Acetaminofen in your bloodstream can damage your hearing significantly. Get off the meds, and you can actually recover some of your hearing. I'm getting old. I have a daughter. I don't want her to be taking care of me and my bad ears. I don't want her reminding me to wear my hearing aid, even though eventually, I will probably need one. Our generation has significant needs. Emotional, deep, serious needs, and they're not being addressed. We are beholdent to technology, we're not like our parents who seem to get along fine without it all. But we still remember a time when a household didn't need a computer. I remember vinyl. I remember rabbit ears. As we grew up, technology was advancing at a cruel and insane rate, and we were suddenly on the catch-up. And young children now know more about computers than I do. It's like breathing, to them. We have grown up under the Baby Boomers. A huge population of people. Such a significant portion of our world, and we have grown up knowing that we will be taking care of them all. And they're freaking out because there won't be money to do it. And we're freaking out because we're the ones paying for the shortfall. When this economy finally bottoms out, our parents will be moving in with us. We're on a cusp here. In a few weeks, I am giving a comencement speech. The second one that I have given in my life. This one is for 5th graders graduating into middle school. I think I should stress to them the importance of ear protection. Because it's too late for me to recover it. We are in a culture of noise. I have been part of the problem, certainly not the solution. Noise, and not just the auditory kind. Our world is busy and fast. Noise is the thick air we are breathing and the manic vibrations of the television and the light pollution. Noise is pop-ups and dropdowns. We are inundated. I'm losing my hearing. One day, the noise, for me, could end. And I think I will miss it.