Cell 2 Soul: The Humane Health Care Blog

Medical Hysteria

On His Deafness

Milton wrote an immortal sonnet "On His Blindness."
Our C2S contributor describes his own experience with progressive deafness.

SOUNDS OF SILENCE

High-pitched voices the first to go
Louder becoming a screaming noise
Communication confused by multi-tonality
Like, like a stuttering redux.

A missed word, a phrase,
whole sentences gone, the meaning unclear
a reluctance to be wrong in response
silence misinterpreted as taciturn.

Aural uncertainty boosted by reading lips,
chance guesses of the dictionary of glances,
a wink, a nod, eyes widening, eyebrows up
Cultural mismatches even harder to dissect.

Technology minimizing embarrassing moments
for a little while, keeping me alive and sane.
But the process is relentless
The tunnel collapsing, the path narrowing.

The deafening sounds of silence
not peaceful nor comforting
no morning bird nor buzzing cricket
as the sun rises and sets.

For better formatting Download Sounds Meyskens

Frank L Meyskens Jr  12/2012

Meyskens with his muse

Author Bio: Frank Meyskens, Jr., Director, Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California Irvine writes: “Aging is a surprising process. Over 50% of people over age 70 have functionally meaningfull hearing loss.   This loss marks one as frail. Whether or not one is, reading lips only goes so far. One of the most joyous days of my life was the day after I acquired my new super-duper hearing aid and opened my front door and heard the morning cacophony of birdsongs.  After a year of silence,  I felt alive again"