What I Can and Can't Hear

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(guitar plays)

So in this video,

I am going to give you

a little more detail about my deafness

and tell you exactly what it is

that I can and I cannot hear.

Now in my old videos,

especially my very first
video about deafness,

I said that deafness is
not one size fits all

and that is still correct.

But here's the thing that I don't think

a lot of hearing people quite know

and somebody brought this up on Twitter.

But hearing loss, deafness
is not just about volume.

It's not just about, oh this needs to be

at this certain volume in
the car or on the television.

It's also about
frequencies, pitches, tone.

So it's all just a mixture of volume

and frequencies, pitches,
you know that kind of stuff.

So let's just talk about volume first.

So before I get into any real details,

let me go over exactly how
much loss I have in my ears.

In my right ear, I'm
pretty much severely deaf.

I can barely hear anything.

I always test this out occasionally

but when somebody's with me or
when I'm listening to music,

I cover my left ear and it
there's not a whole lot of sound

that comes in on this side.

This side however, my left ear
is better than my right ear

but I'm still deaf enough in this ear.

It's about moderate to severe.

As far as pitches and tones go,

I hear deeper tones better
than higher pitch tones

and I'll get into that a little bit more

in detail in a second.

So I have a little example that goes great

with this whole figuring out, you know,

what volume I'm good with.

A couple of days ago on my Facebook page

I asked people, those that still have

some residual hearing,

I asked, hey how high do
you have to have the volume

in your car to be able to barely hear it,

be a little semi comfortable hearing it,

be at an okay volume and
what volume do you need

to actually be okay with it

and actually really be able
to hear and listen, ya know?

So for example in my car,
the highest volume is 45.

Just to be able to barely hear my music

it has to be at least 25, 25 to 30

depending on whether it's like

a singer with a higher pitch
voice or a deeper pitch voice.

I have to be at at
least 25 for everything.

And here's the thing most
of my hearing friends

they won't put their radios,
their speakers, higher than 20

because anything over the
20 is too loud for them.

So let's see for example,
I don't listen to music

a whole lot anymore but I do have

a couple of main CDs in my car.

One of them is Epik High.

If you don't know who
Epik High is, a Korean rap group.

So that's pretty much my go to music

whenever I'm in the car.

So I have to have the
volume at just about 25

to be able to barely hear it.

So if I have somebody in the car with me

but I also wanna hear it,

it's at 25 and it stays
there because that 25

might be too loud for them.

To be able to hear it alright,

if I'm in a mood that I don't
want it to be like so loud

that it hurts my ears
because the base will like

you know, get into my ear
and give me a headache.

35

is where...

it's okay.

But if I really want to enjoy the music,

it has to be 40 to 45.

Most of the time, I
crank it all the way up

and yes, that means my
mirrors are shaking.

It's a miracle that my
speakers haven't blown out yet.

I did do that in the other car though.

So yeah, whenever I'm listening to music

I mostly prefer male singers

because their voices are deeper

and that means I can hear
it a little bit better.

Now let me get into this,

that doesn't mean I
understand the song lyrics.

Unless I know the song,

I'm not gonna understand the song lyrics.

Bits and pieces, yes,

but other than that...

No.

The misheard lyrics video,

I would be the poster child for it.

So music aside, let's
talk about some things

that I can hear.

Really if you're loud enough,

I could pretty much hear anything

but you're gonna have to be
very, very, very, very loud.

Let's talk about people.

There are lots of people that
I can hear at regular volume.

There are some people I can't hear at all.

I been in group hangouts in person

and I would have two friends over here

that I could hear alright,

and then there's one person regardless of

if he's like right here by me,

I would not hear a peep
coming out of his mouth

but everybody else would.

I can somewhat hear
church bells occasionally.

When I am outside in a parking lot,

I've heard a church bell here and there.

I live right off an interstate

so I'm hearing freight trucks all the time

but I will not be able to hear
regular cars that pass by.

At my old house, I was
able to hear the doorbell

but in this apartment, I
cannot hear the doorbell.

I've gotten lucky a couple of times

but hearing fluctuates.

Yesterday, I got lucky.

Normally, I'm not so lucky.

I use my cats as my personal doorbell.

When their heads perk up
or when they run away,

there's somebody at the door.

Here's an example of
not being able to hear

high pitch tones, this is
like the perfect example.

The very first time that I was in Toronto

when I first met my boyfriend in person,

I made coffee, we had the
timer set up, four minutes.

And I lost track of time, I
was watching TV or something.

And Devin comes out and he's
like, "What in the hell?"

And I'm like, what, halo, what what?

And he's like, "Can you
turn the alarm off?"

and I go

what alarm?

And he goes, "You cannot
hear this, this is so loud!"

And I go...

no.

So I went into the kitchen

and he's like, "Oh my gosh,
this kitchen timer is so loud."

And I go, I couldn't hear a
thing, like nothing, zilch.

And so I take the shrieking timer

and I put it in my better ear, nothing!

Absolutely not a peep coming
out of the shrieking alarm

that is getting on my boyfriend's nerve.

And I have it...

Like how ya doin, nothing.

Absolutely

nothing.

The only person I'm comfortable
talking on the phone with

is my dad and that's just crap now.

But I don't mind screaming
what into the phone

every two minutes because that's my dad.

But I'm not gonna like call AT&T

or make an appointment over the phone

because that's just not gonna work.

If a crime happens and I gotta call 911,

then I'm gonna take my chances.

But for regular everyday things

that aren't necessarily important,

I'm not gonna go on the phone.

Unfortunately, yes I can
still hear screaming babies

and crying babies in
public and on an aeroplane.

I cannot hear alarms
like when I'm sleeping,

I can't hear alarms.

I have to use the sonic boom
that vibrates under a mattress.

I can hear the phone when
I'm like in waiting rooms

most of the time.

Sometimes I can hear a
conversation around me,

sometimes I cannot.

I think it would probably take forever

to get into like everything
that I can hear and not hear

but that's pretty much the gist of it.

If it's deeper, if it's a deeper tone

I'm gonna hear it better
than a higher pitch tone.

Do not trust me with
kitchen timers at all.

I use my iPhone or I
go, I stand up literally

like every two minutes
to check on my timer

because I have to make sure.

I am a very visual person.

It's all visual, yeah.

So for those of you who follow deaf

and hard of hearing people,

those of you that have
residual hearing left,

tell me what you can hear and can't hear.

Let's share.

Do you hear deeper tones
better or higher tones better?

But yeah, I hope that this gives you

a little bit of a better insight

because I know people are always like,

"Oh my gosh, she can hear something."

And I'm like well, yes but
there's a lot of things

that I can't hear, can't
hear as well as this.

Hearing loss is a very complicated thing.

It's not just one easy thing.

Unless the person is profoundly deaf

then it's like (snaps fingers) done.

If you wanna follow me on my social media

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me monthly on Patreon

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vlogs and all of that,

link to that will also be down below.

I upload every Monday and Thursday

unless otherwise stated and
I will see you later, bye.

(upbeat music)