Jenny Marcus

Npsy 12a

earplugs

11-21-00

Wearing ear plugs for eight consecutive hours was an unusual experience. To describe it in a few words I would say it was most like the feeling one experiences when getting off an airplane. I could still hear, but everything I heard was muffled and distant. When I printed a paper, it sounded like my printer was in the next room, when I flushed the toilet, it sounded like it had been miniaturized. I could not hear the ticking of the clock. When people talked to me they had to stand in front of me and speak clearly. Not only was the overall quality of sound reduced, but there were certain instances that struck me as particularly odd, and some almost scary.

I was sitting at my computer typing, and I could not hear a thing, not the clacking of keys, nor the hum of the computer. However, I could hear my heart beating clearly in my chest, and my breathing seemed louder than normal. When I went outside, I could hear my footsteps, but it was as if I was hearing them through my body and not through my ears. They made a totally different sound than they normally would, I assume there are other noises that usually mask my footsteps, but today I heard them; this was a very eerie sensation because I couldn‚t hear anything else except my own footsteps and breathing.

Being outside was creepy for another reason, too. I could feel the wind blowing against my face, and hair, but I could not hear it. I did not like this feeling... I felt removed or disconnected. Another feeling I did not like was when I was in Usdan for dinner. The normal hubbub of the cafeteria was greatly reduced, and although I could hear the noise it seemed very far away. The whole scenario struck me as dream-like, I felt like I was observing something, but I was not a part of it. I ended up taking my food to-go.

Dinner was an interesting experience for me also. I ate in front of the TV with some of my suite mates, but I had to have the volume turned up very high. If everyone was quiet I could hear the TV fine, but if anyone said something, I could not hear anymore. Another problem was with chewing. I ate during commercials because the sound of my own chewing was so loud that it drowned out the TV.

I definitely appreciated the ear plugs when I was studying in the library. I was able to focus on my work better because I was not distracted by other people‚s conversations, or by the sounds of people moving around.

The reason why I experienced such muffled sounds is because plugging reduces the sound intensity relieved by the ears. The plugs were not enough to obliterate sound completely, but the overall result they produced was a strong reduction of external noise, and therefore an increase in internal noise. Much of what we hear about are bodies actually comes through our bodies as opposed to our ears, so by blocking external stimuli we are able to „hear‰ more clearly what is going on inside of us (heart beat, foot steps etc.) because we do not „hear‰ them through our ears.

Overall, I did not like wearing the ear plugs, they were not physically uncomfortable, but I cannot stand the feeling of being clogged. I also talked louder than usual which I am sure was annoying to my friends. I think if I was deaf I would eventually get used to hearing my heart beat, and to the feeling of separation and isolation, but until one adapts to these sensations it is very uncomfortable.