Earplugs Experiment
Journal
By Michael Wakefield
ASL101 – Earplug Experiment
Journal
Michael Wakefield
ASL101-E
1-27-07
person. We are used to those subtle clues that come from being able to hear
conversations, even those conversations that we are not directly involved in.
One of the greatest challenges I noticed during this experiment was that I
was simply unaware of conversations that were going on. Also, people had to get my
attention during class because the instructor was signing to me or trying to get my
attention and I was writing and not aware. I also had difficulty understanding some
side conversations that were going on because I caught the middle or end of a
conversation and simply didn’t understand what was said. No context to the
conversation.
Another challenge was understanding when the instructor was talking to the
class or responding to an individual. That was very frustrating because I missed very
important information about homework. I didn’t realize this until one particular
homework assignment was due the day I got to class and I was conversing with one
of my classmates.
One other interesting side note to this experiment was that I noticed that I
could hear myself breathe and make noises that I would normally not hear. Sounds
like a sigh, grunt or Ah that we normally take for granted. Based on my firsthand
experience, I would say that deaf or hard-of-hearing people must be more in tune to
themselves internally since they are cutoff from the outside world from one less
sense perspective. This might explain why they are more touchy-feely when greeting