ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

The Aural Dilemma

I've read the comments made online.
Recipients must cease to sign.
Once you've got your brand new ear,
All old ways must disappear.

I understand the logic, too.
Commitment is required of you.
To hear once more must seem so strange.
I would be frightened by such change.

What of all your signing friends?
Demand that they should make amends?
Read your lips and not your hands?
Might they spurn such crude demands?

Would you change your social scene?
Scrub all clues of where you've been?
Join the 'non-impaired' mainstream,
Just like the cat who's licked the cream?

I've heard it said that some refuse
The cochlear implant. They choose
To stay with those they love and know.
A stubborn route, perhaps, to go?

Yet do they really suffer much
Who have nearby a stable clutch
Of loyal friends who speak quite free
By signing all so expertly?

The choice I'd make? I've no idea
If deaf, then offered one new ear.
Some endure a lonely hell
Who've two pink ears that work quite well!

Stephen Whiteside 24.02.2012

probably one of the most worthwhile inventions made by man and as you astutely point out - lack of hearing is not the isolating factor in many cases - people tend to isolate themselves for whatever reason rows their boat. One can be lonely in a room full of people.

My Mum is deaf and recently got her hearing aid - now she complains everything is to loud and doesn't wear it - my sister and I have refused to constantly repeat ourselves - because that will just negate the whole deal with her. To be fair though I wonder if they do amplify sounds too much or has she just become used over the years to things appearing much quieter than they actually are in reality

One of my neighbours has cochlear implants and she is joyous about her new found world

Your poem captures the quandary of those who have signed for years.

Thanks Marty, Maureen. I think it would be really tough to make the switch to a cochlear implant after years of signing. A better title might have been 'The Cochlear Conundrum'.