Personal Narrative: My Earplugs

What did you physically experience during this simulation? I was the first to get my ears plugged for this hearing loss simulation. Beforehand, I thought that this experience would not be too difficult, but the instant I had those earplugs inserted, I realized just how difficult this would actually before. I felt a slight pressure in my head, and approximately a 40-50% loss in my overall hearing ability. What made things especially difficult was if someone was talking behind me because it was even harder for me to hear them.

How did the things you physically experienced make you feel? After having the ear plugs in for about an hour, I started to hear my heartbeat, my breath became louder, I heard the sound of me stroking my own beard, and eating was louder than ever. Although most people experiences discomfort and headaches, I felt quite comfortable considering my experience using insert headphones for so long. I felt that I had a more mental impact than anything. Once everyone had their earplugs in, the room became noticeably

Welling would say before the experiment, but that was not necessarily the issue since she was speaking loudly throughout the experiment. The issue came when people started asking questions; I could not hear anything that was being asked. Several times, people had to ask Dr. Welling to repeat questions because we could not hear other’s speaking at a normal level. This puts people with a hearing loss at a clear disadvantage when it comes to a classroom setting. Yet at the same time, it seemed that people with a HL was at a social disadvantage as well. A lot of times, my friends were having a discussion, and I was not sure if it was appropriate for me to ask them what they were talking about, since I could not hear them. Other times I just gave up on trying to be a part of the conversation because I could not hear a single thing my friends were talking