Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Deaf members

[Hafidha Sofia (hafidhaao]

Yes Sharon! The ability to see people’s faces more clearly when they speak 
(when they’re on camera) can be very helpful for tracking the words people say.

I am not hard of hearing but have auditory processing issues and sound 
sensitivity issues, including misophonia. 

I’m able to be a lot more present and practice active listening when I can look 
at a person’s video and listen to their voice. And my brain doesn’t have to 
“filter” out the people around me who are loudly chewing gum, absentmindedly 
clicking their pen over and over, or theater-whispering with each other about 
an unrelated topic. 

And of course, it means I can get up and fetch a glass of water or eat or 
stretch without being a distraction to others!

Hafidha
Songaia Cohousing
Washington State, USA

Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 25, 2021, at 9:46 AM, Sharon Villines via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l 
> [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
> 
> 
>> 
>> On Apr 25, 2021, at 12:09 PM, Shari Hirst <sharihirst13 [at] gmail.com> 
>> wrote:
>> 
>> We have a member at Sand River Cohousing that has hearing problems, and uses 
>> a hearing aide.  She is able to understand zoom meetings better and asks 
>> pertinent questions.  I don’t understand why she is able to understand 
>> better on zoom than in person.  I would appreciate your comments.
> 
> Large groups in large rooms means lots of extraneous noise — feet scraping, 
> table tapping, echoes, echoes, echoes. All of these are amplified equally by 
> hearing aids. And even without hearing aids they blur sound.
> 
> With hearing aids, noises that would not be noticeable are suddenly super 
> loud. A member was folding newspaper bags to use as pooper scoopers and 
> another member asked her to stop. Her hearing aid was picking up the sound 
> and making it so loud she couldn’t hear anything else. Same for someone in 
> the corner paying bills on their laptop.
> 
> Inability to read lips. People are facing in all different directions. 
> Sometimes it is even unclear who is speaking so you can’t listen better 
> because you can’t predict the speaking pattern.
> 
> With Zoom sound can be raised and lowered as you need. I don’t know the 
> technology but it seems that there is some modulation of voice levels on 
> Zoom. People who speak very loudly don’t sound quite as loud and soft voices 
> are certainly clearer and louder. — Unless people are sitting too far from 
> their speakers, which does happen. They don’t want to appear as a looming 
> head on the screen.
> 
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
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