"I'm from the village" ...

I had a patient and their parent in here the other day and  I was talking to them about what we were going to do during the testing session. The parent looks at me and smiles, then says, "I'm from the village, you're going to have to speak slower or we won't understand you. We have a slower way of life."

I love this because 1) the parent is right, way of life up here is slower than most other places I've lived and even slower in the villages. My frenetic energy when I go on a cleaning tear (as my Work-Mom can attest to) is something that would be an absolute spectacle up here. and 2) the parent spoke up and told me what I needed to do to help them communicate with them.  - This should never be a source of embarrassment for anyone. Communication makes us human and creatures who love. It's the currency of life. Even in times of complete poverty or depression, the communicate your idea is essential to survive. And communication is a give and take. You can't just give a message, you have to receive it as well.

A little background on my voice:

•  At home-  my voice is a 'typical level and I sometimes swallow the ends of my words, and talk into cabinets/fridges/from the other room."  Essentially, I'm human. I do this even though I have people in my family with hearing loss- I make mistakes, I think we all do. That being said, I do try to raise my voice or talk over my shoulder. I also know that there's a very good chance I'll have to repeat or rephrase what I'm saying. I'm ALWAYS aware of situations that are difficult and try to make changes to how I'm talking before necessary. Communication is a 2 ways street. It's hard for me to know exactly WHAT a person does or does not hear in any given situation. At the same time, I've never met anyone who LIKES to have voices raised at them unnecessarily and everyone's ability to hear is different. So as much as I may try to speak clearly and loud enough, it's also the listeners responsibility to let me know if I can do something different to make things easier for them.  --So this parent was communicating beautifully--

• At work- my voice is slower, louder (not shouting but definitely projecting at times), and I enunciate. Essentially, I play it by ear, but I'm always trying to make adjustments in my voice to make it easier for someone to understand. I still have people tell me to speak up or get softer because I'm 'shouting' to them. -I'd rather have someone correct me than not be able to understand a darn thing I'm saying but pretend.

BTW, one of my humble opinions is that Enunciation is key to communication with anyone, especially with a hearing loss or when there are language barriers. That's exactly what was going on here. There was a language barrier. Many people who live in the villages grew up learning a Native Tongue, like Yup'ik. I had two teenagers last week who were just starting to learn English. And, yes, these are teenagers living in the US in this day and age. It's part of keeping a culture alive, it's being able to speak to your elders without complete assimilation into American teenage culture (lack of assimilation is NOT a bad thing in my mind).