Sound PLAYS a Huge Role in Our Lives
Sound plays such a huge role in everyday life, from personal and professional interactions, to some of our favorite hobbies. I know this intimately as I lost my hearing in my left ear at the young age of 12. It was due to a freak accident that involved an air pump with the needle tip that you use to inflate basketballs, and a group of kids goofing off blowing air in peoples faces – and ears.
At the time, I never understood the impact the loss of hearing would have on me in my in my later years. Constant ringing in my deaf ear, always asking “what” and just flat-out missing conversations because I just could not manage to make out what the other person was saying in a loud space. Many times it was just down right embarrassing, to the point I stopped going out or trying to hang in larger groups because I do not want to be the person always nodding “yes” while only catching chunks of conversations.
I taught myself to read lips and position myself in ways to allow my good ear the most exposure to conversation or the music. I learned how to mix music while working in mono. I would always position myself on the side of the stage that allowed my good ear to face the rest of the band (this caused some fun arguments with sound engineers who had a stage pre set up with positions for each player). I learned to adapt and ignore that I could only hear half of what the world was trying to share with me.
Remember when I said bow large a role sound plays in out lives and hobbies? Take gaming for instance. If I play a FPS (Call of Duty for example) I do not have the ability to gauge the DIRECTION of sounds. So, there I am, spinning around in circles trying to pinpoint the location of noises with my good ear. Being able to pinpoint where a sound is coming from is second nature to most, but for me it’s a foreign concept.
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The loss of hearing caused me to develop a deep love and understanding of sound, what makes up the sounds we hear, and the impact it has on our everyday lives. I understand what it’s like to lose the ability to hear in stereo, or not be able to understand someone in an open office space and after joining the Gaus family I’ve made it a mission to ensure others don’t suffer from “hearing loss” due to the design of their spaces.
Bad acoustics within an office space is a lot like taking away a portion of someone’s hearing, causing them to strain to hear, or speak louder to be heard, or even be misunderstood due to the clarity of what they are saying not being 100%. Sound cannot be seen, but it can be HEARD and FELT. Even the lack of sound (privacy) can cause severe focus issues or communication issues within a space.
Do not ignore your senses.
- Daniel Stefl
