# What if you're a bit deaf?



## Badger1777 (Sep 6, 2014)

One of the most frustrating things for me when I go to my class is that I usually can't hear what the instructor is saying. He is loud enough, its just that my ears aren't what they used to be. If I am lucky enough to be in a position where I can clearly see his face and his body language as he speaks, I am fine, but if he is at the front and I am at the back (where our club rules put me, as we order ourselves by grade), often I can't see his face. No clear sight of face means all I hear is muffled sound or sometimes nothing at all.

This usually is not much of a problem, as I've had to deal with my hearing deficit for long enough to learn how to build a full picture by combining context+body language+facial movements+limited muffled sound. In class I often get about 30% of an instruction and the decipher the rest by watching the rest of the class start to follow it, so I start off half a second behind then catch up. The problem happens when it comes to things like testing, when you're expected to know all the terminology, from a language you are unfamiliar with, when you never heard it in class and had no experience of the language from which to draw experience from in order to make a guess.

I've confessed my lack of hearing skill two a couple of people in class who tell me I should make it known to the instructor, but I don't want special treatment.


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## K-man (Sep 6, 2014)

Badger1777 said:


> One of the most frustrating things for me when I go to my class is that I usually can't hear what the instructor is saying. He is loud enough, its just that my ears aren't what they used to be. If I am lucky enough to be in a position where I can clearly see his face and his body language as he speaks, I am fine, but if he is at the front and I am at the back (where our club rules put me, as we order ourselves by grade), often I can't see his face. No clear sight of face means all I hear is muffled sound or sometimes nothing at all.
> 
> This usually is not much of a problem, as I've had to deal with my hearing deficit for long enough to learn how to build a full picture by combining context+body language+facial movements+limited muffled sound. In class I often get about 30% of an instruction and the decipher the rest by watching the rest of the class start to follow it, so I start off half a second behind then catch up. The problem happens when it comes to things like testing, when you're expected to know all the terminology, from a language you are unfamiliar with, when you never heard it in class and had no experience of the language from which to draw experience from in order to make a guess.
> 
> I've confessed my lack of hearing skill two a couple of people in class who tell me I should make it known to the instructor, but I don't want special treatment.


I have the same problem at seminars where there are lots of people, often background noise, and a distance between me and the person speaking. No easy answer that I can see. Certainly have a word to your instructor. Apart from that you have to live with it. I have seen some senior guys with hearing aids. It does look a bit out of place but hey, if it works for you who cares.
:asian:


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## Danny T (Sep 6, 2014)

As an instructor I would be a bit put out by your lack of letting me know of your condition. Not for special treatment but for everyone's safety.


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## Badger1777 (Sep 6, 2014)

Yep. I think the fact I've been trying to hide from is that I have to tell my chief instructor. I guessed I'd kind of hoped he'd have guessed based on the fact that I always starestraight at his face when I can, and then get stuff right first time (usually), whereas if I can't see his face, I get stuff wrong a lot more. I realise on thinking about it that I've been unintentionally making my problem his, by kind of expecting him to work it out when I could just tell him.


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## evelbug (Sep 6, 2014)

If he's a good instructor, he will find a way to make things work.  Often times in my school, people get moved around to best fit the class (matching size for partner drills, putting a more experienced person in the back when working on a pattern, splitting up a couple kids who are a distraction to each other, etc)  Perhaps your instructor could move you closer to the front after you bow in.


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## Tez3 (Sep 7, 2014)

Please do tell your instructor it will help him enormously if you do. If you don't pick up techniques etc he may feel there's something he's not doing right and all good instructors want to do the best for their students, telling him will help him to help you. We all have things that make it harder to train, so most of us are compensating for something or another, it won't look weak if you mention you have a hearing problem.


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## donnaTKD (Sep 7, 2014)

Badger1777 said:


> One of the most frustrating things for me when I go to my class is that I usually can't hear what the instructor is saying. He is loud enough, its just that my ears aren't what they used to be. If I am lucky enough to be in a position where I can clearly see his face and his body language as he speaks, I am fine, but if he is at the front and I am at the back (where our club rules put me, as we order ourselves by grade), often I can't see his face. No clear sight of face means all I hear is muffled sound or sometimes nothing at all.
> 
> This usually is not much of a problem, as I've had to deal with my hearing deficit for long enough to learn how to build a full picture by combining context+body language+facial movements+limited muffled sound. In class I often get about 30% of an instruction and the decipher the rest by watching the rest of the class start to follow it, so I start off half a second behind then catch up. The problem happens when it comes to things like testing, when you're expected to know all the terminology, from a language you are unfamiliar with, when you never heard it in class and had no experience of the language from which to draw experience from in order to make a guess.
> 
> I've confessed my lack of hearing skill two a couple of people in class who tell me I should make it known to the instructor, but I don't want special treatment.



i too am deaf   the outside world is sooooo quiet   but in room full of people it's a nightmare - i too lip read and use body language, and follow other people particularly when i'm at fight school cos there are lots of people there.  when i do padwork i tell the other person that i can't hear them and they just put the pads where they want me to hit them whci works 

with scotty i work one on one so no probs and he just does the same thing in that he holds the pads where he wants me to hit them.

in order for you to get the best out of your training you've got to tell your sensei what's going on --- there won't be special treatment he'll prolly just make sure that you can 

(1) see him so you can "read" him
(2) he'll make sure that you're doing whaat the rest of them are doing when they are doing it.

don't think of being deaf as a disibility think of it as a positive cos you've got no distractions   you just want to be able to understand what's going on 

in short talk to him preferably before class if not after class but he's gotta know


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## Gnarlie (Sep 7, 2014)

I'm deaf on one side, mainly due to tinnitus. I've always told my instructors, and training partners. It's not that I want special treatment, I just think that deaf is sometimes interpreted as slow or stupid when one doesn't react immediately.

When people know, they can help you and you can help them to do so. When people don't know, they make incorrect assumptions.


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## Badger1777 (Sep 7, 2014)

donnaTKD said:


> don't think of being deaf as a disibility think of it as a positive cos you've got no distractions   you just want to be able to understand what's going on



Not quite in my case. I think my hearing trouble is kind of specific to different tones. For instance, when the lady that handles the admin side of things makes announcements and stuff, I usually hear her pretty well, even over the all the other noise, but when the instructors speak, I often don't hear a single of word of it. In the case of one instructor, I get about 50 or 60% of what he says. If the other instructor takes the class, well I've given up trying to hear him because I simply can't. Even if he is standing right in front of me, talking to me one to one, I struggle to hear him. All these people speak loud and clear I think, its just that I can pick up some voices better than others.


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## Tez3 (Sep 7, 2014)

Badger1777 said:


> Not quite in my case. I think my hearing trouble is kind of specific to different tones. For instance, when the lady that handles the admin side of things makes announcements and stuff, I usually hear her pretty well, even over the all the other noise, but when the instructors speak, I often don't hear a single of word of it. In the case of one instructor, I get about 50 or 60% of what he says. If the other instructor takes the class, well I've given up trying to hear him because I simply can't. Even if he is standing right in front of me, talking to me one to one, I struggle to hear him. All these people speak loud and clear I think, its just that I can pick up some voices better than others.



Are you ex Forces? I ask because my husband and a majority of service personnel are deaf in that way, despite ear defenders which are only used when shooting on the ranges many are high tone deaf in their right ear. It very much depends on the tone whether it can be heard or not.


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## Dirty Dog (Sep 7, 2014)

You really cannot expect your instructors (who are talking to the entire class) to figure out that you're having trouble hearing them. It's up to you to tell them about your hearing loss. I'm sure they'll work with you to find ways to make sure you get the information they're trying to pass on.


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## Badger1777 (Sep 7, 2014)

Tez3 said:


> Are you ex Forces? I ask because my husband and a majority of service personnel are deaf in that way, despite ear defenders which are only used when shooting on the ranges many are high tone deaf in their right ear. It very much depends on the tone whether it can be heard or not.



Not ex forces no. Although I do believe my hearing deficiency is noise related. I've worked in some very noisy environments, not to mention had some very noisy leisure time in my youth. But even then, I'm not entirely sure. I remember once having a hearing test when I was in my late teens. It was discovered then that I could hear higher frequencies than was normal for a human. I got right up to 24kHz, when the average for my age and gender was around 18kHz. There was a theory then hearing the very top of the range meant that when listening to people with lower pitched voices, the 'interference' from higher frequencies would drown out a lot of what I was trying to listen to. I'm not sure if the science is there to back that theory, but it certainly seems to fit my observation where I often hear female voices more clearly than the usually deeper male voices.


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## Tez3 (Sep 7, 2014)

Sounds very like the 'military' deafness, women's voices are often easier to hear, when I corner fighters my voice is a bit easier to hear above the crowd ( okay I can be loud lol). I do suspect sometimes though that my husbands just deaf to my voice.


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## donnaTKD (Sep 7, 2014)

Badger1777 said:


> Not quite in my case. I think my hearing trouble is kind of specific to different tones. For instance, when the lady that handles the admin side of things makes announcements and stuff, I usually hear her pretty well, even over the all the other noise, but when the instructors speak, I often don't hear a single of word of it. In the case of one instructor, I get about 50 or 60% of what he says. If the other instructor takes the class, well I've given up trying to hear him because I simply can't. Even if he is standing right in front of me, talking to me one to one, I struggle to hear him. All these people speak loud and clear I think, its just that I can pick up some voices better than others.



i gave up trying to hear people   i had the same problem some people talk at a pitch that i can actually understand but everyone else is like "not there"  but you gotta make sure that those around you know and understand the issue particualrly those taking the class -- please just "talk" to them before class whoever it is that's taking it and you might have to tell them each session cos people have brains like seives


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## donnaTKD (Sep 7, 2014)

Tez3 said:


> Sounds very like the 'military' deafness, women's voices are often easier to hear, when I corner fighters my voice is a bit easier to hear above the crowd ( okay I can be loud lol). I do suspect sometimes though that my husbands just deaf to my voice.



my doggy has that sometimes --- it's called selective deafness


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## Buka (Sep 8, 2014)

You really have to let your instructor know. It's not fair to him that you don't. But the biggest "unfair" is to you. Heck, brother, this Martial stuff is difficult enough as it is.


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## Tony Dismukes (Sep 8, 2014)

Speaking as an instructor, I would definitely want to know if one of my students was deaf so that I could do my job better.


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## WaterGal (Sep 8, 2014)

Talk to your instructor.  If he cares about your growth as a student, I'm sure he'll try to find a way to accommodate your hearing issue without having it disrupt the class too much.  Maybe he'll let you stand closer to the front, have a high-ranking student work with you for a few minutes after class to go over something you missed, or even just have the student next to you repeat what he says.  If someone is upset that a lower-ranking deaf student got to stand in front of them so he/she could lip-read the instructions, they're a jerk.


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## donnaTKD (Sep 8, 2014)

i did some teaching today and the lady i was teaching was born deaf and i just told her to hit the pads wherever i put them 

she enjoyed the session and thanked me for taking the session 

think it helped that i'm deaf cos i had an idea of how she might communicate but your instructor doesn't have this insight you stand up and say i can't hear you and i can't see you to lip read you 

it's no good thinking about your instructor or what they're gunna say etc..... cos it's you that's paying to be taught.

if there's the opportunity to go one on one with your instructor then snatch at it you might find that it's a lot easier and you might progress faster cos you can understand what's going on easier


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