I am incredibly near sighted … And have been so, as far as I know, all of my life.
Oddly … This was not discovered until I was in the second grade!
The human body is very resourceful and will try to adjust to make up for any challenges it encounters. In my case, with my vision being somewhat less than perfect, my hearing seems to have jumped into overdrive. The amazing thing to me is that this adjustment was not noticed until I was seven. Life was just normal!
Getting eyeglasses was huge. Wearing glasses sucked! Tickled the nose … Hurt the ears, but, oh the sights! … Trees had leaves! Facial expressions were a new phenomenon to me and television suddenly got a lot more interesting … At least until the novelty wore off!
It has taken several decades to realize that not everyone heard the world the same way I did. When 20/20 vision was handed to me as a little kid I did not immediately stop using the hearing skills I had developed.
What skills you might ask?
Well … Have you ever been to the beach on a hot summer day?
It is a wonderful way to get away from the heat, and if it were not for all the other people trying to do the same thing, finding a place to set up the family blanket and beach supplies would be pretty easy.
Imagine yourself there … The sound of the waves crashing along the shore and the gulls overhead. Go down to the water and close your eyes … Now, add the noise of all those people. Not being able to see more than a couple of feet in front of you is going to make getting back to that blanket a bit more of a challenge.
My solution to the problem, that I did not know existed, was to just run up and down the beach yelling “mom!”. When I heard her I would know where she was … Blanket, cooler and sun tan lotion … and I would go … Normal!
Aside from being a very nearsighted and loud kid, it seems that I was incredibly skinny. All knees and elbows as it were, and if I have understood my mom correctly, with my ribs sticking out!
When she heard me she did not immediately yell back. She was afraid people would know who was responsible for starving this poor child, When I ran by she would answer loud enough for me to hear her, but not much more.
Echo locating?
Hmmm … Apparently I was more than just “blind as a bat” … And perhaps things were not quite so normal after all.
Fortunately I wound up falling into a profession where my “ears” would be an asset. For the last thirty plus years I have been working in the entertainment industry as an audio engineer … A sound guy … And being able to pick sounds out in a crowd has been incredibly handy!
I love sounds … All sounds … Even that “teeth on the chalkboard” screech of a sound … I still cringe … But I do love it!
It has been a lot of fun learning how sound behaves, finding ways, tools and tricks for making things louder, occasionally a lot louder! More often then not, most people are not aware of what things coming off the stage I have made louder.
To me the ultimate goal is making it louder without it sounding louder …creating the illusion that there is no amplification at all. Surprisingly, it turns out that it can still be loud without the audience minding that it is loud.
The right microphone used in a certain way with a high fidelity sound system can leave the audience wondering if there is a sound system there at all.
Now close your eyes again … This time the noise and mayhem of the beach is replaced by something you might not expect … You are at a concert and an artist is on stage … And you hear them, not the sound system.
If you are like me … You may find yourself smiling.
ghppowered 