Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Impaired hearing and cohousing

[Jim Rebman (seamus]

I'd like to emphasize that this is not only an issue for the hearing
impaired population.  As one other person mentioned, people with a
heightened flight-or-fight response, which can result from any number
of causes such as traumatic brain injuries and otherwise invisible
mental illnesses, are also susceptible to this problem.  Another
condition that may not be ovbious is blindness or more severe vision
impairments.

My situation is that I am totally blind, and while many myths about
super-human hering are associated with blindness, the fact is that I
don't hear any better than the next person, it is that more of my
sensory input comes through my ears than it used to when I could see
(which I could do until I was 31 years old.)  The brain automatically
compensates for this and eventually gives the auditory sense a
disproportionate amount of processing power, if you will.  Simply
stated, I hear *everything*.  I can't possibly process all that
information at a cognitive level because the brain is not very good at
multitasking at this level, so the end result is that it all blends
into an overwhelming noise with no intelligible components, or at
least it makes it extremely hard to filter out only one without the
others washing it out.  When this happens the brain just shuts this
process down until it can hone in on one coherent stream of input
again.

A simple analogy in the visual domain might be something like being on
a movie set where the lighting is so intense that some people find it
hard to concentrate on any one thing and again, seem to shut down from
overstimulation.

Since losing my sight I simply can't function in loud restaurants,
clubs, or meetings where too many people are talking at once.  Even if
somebody is very close to me and talking directly to me, once the
ambient sound is above a certain level (quite low) I can more or less
hear what they are saying but I can't process it no matter how hard I
try.

I have done some experimentation with active noise-cancelling
headphones, but for best results in a meeting situation you have to
have some sort of separate amplifier for a directional mic which can
be pointed towards the point source you want to focus on -- not cheap,
and not convenient in many ways, but probably doable for small to
medium size meetings.  Not real convenient when on a date in a noisy
restaurant <smile>.

-- Jim


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Raines Cohen" <rc2-coho-L [at] raines.com>
To: "Developing cohousing - collaborative housing communities"
<cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 6:56 PM
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Impaired hearing and cohousing


> On 5/13/04 10:17 AM, Bob Morrison <bomorris [at] cisco.com> wrote:
>
> >  Based on my experience as a potential member of three cohousing
> >groups, I think it would be very hard for someone with poor hearing
to be
> >in a cohousing group.
>
> Unless the group set out with an explicit goal to accomodate
differences
> and support all members, in which case it would invest group energy
in
> figuring out appropriate, economical solutions.
>
> > For example, for whole-group discussions the
> >group usually sits in a large circle. Someone who has poor hearing
would
> >continually have to ask whoever is talking to talk louder, and
still would
> >miss a good part of the discussion.
>
> But in a well-facilitated meeting, only one person speaks at a time,
and
> that's half the cahllenge in hearing any one person clearly.
>
> > If you were to use a P.A. system,
> >you would have to have at least one mike for every two people,
because
> >the nature of these discussions is such that passing a mike around
among
> >a lot of people wouldn't work.
>
> Wouldn't it? I've seen microphone-passing done well even in
non-circle
> arrangements... it oughtta be easier in a circle with less
cord-tangling.
> And the time require to pass the mike could be developed into a fun
> ritual, and could provide time for the facilitator to summarize,
take
> more names for the queue, or other administrivia that might actually
help
> the meeting be more effective, a little breathing room, as it were.
>
> > So you would have a large capital expense
> >for the system,
>
> I bet you could find reasonable-quality mikes pretty cheap these
days.
> Even wireless for under $100 at Radio Shack.  Or how about instead
just a
> parabolic directional mike in the hands of the person who needs the
> hearing assistance? That way they can aim at whoever's talking and
cut
> out background chatter, and tune it to their own needs!
>
> > plus the labor of setting it up before every meeting and
> >taking it down after.
>
> One wireless mike. One amplifier/tape deck. Headphones for the
person(s)
> who need 'em, and encourage 'em to sit together by the deck, and
even
> operate the controls.
>
> >a a hearing-impaired person would have
> >a hard time at meetings if there is second-hand noise from the room
> >where the kids are, even if everyone else can hear just fine over
this
> >noise.
>
> This is why at Berkeley we budget for childcare AWAY from the
meeting,
> not just in the adjacent kids' room. It seems fairly successful so
far.
>
> Is there any group that has hired a sign-language interpreter or
worked
> to develop sign communication skills within the group? I recently
got a
> query from somebody interested in the former.
>
> R
>
> Raines Cohen <my initials,2,dash,coho,dash,L at my first name .com>
>
>   Member, Swan's Market Coho [Oakland, CA]
<http://www.swansway.com/>
> Where a games store is moving in, finishing out the retail.
>
>   Secretary, Berkeley [CA] Cohousing
> Enjoying catching up at a common meal after three weeks on the road.
>
>   Supporter, East Bay Cohousing <http://www.ebcoho.org/>
> Preparing a workshop with Katie McCamant on site selection.
>
>   Boardmember, Coho/US <http://www.cohousing.org/>
> Working hard on getting the website ready for some potential
national
> news coverage... if you have a unit for rent or sale or a community
in
> development, list it in the classifieds now for the widest exposure.
>
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